I've never really seen a guy who has ever had a career ever, whose career has looked
better over time than Conor McGregor.
They tried to set him up with easy fights.
They said as much.
Dana White did not hide that fact that, “We believe we have a diamond in the rough here
and we are going to bring him up differently.”
He did not hide that fact.
He admitted it to the audience.
But when you look back, one of those opponents was a young man who was only 20 years old
that only had a couple of fights named Max Holloway, who went on to be one of the greats
of all time.
Dustin Poirier was in the mix.
I mean, if you break back Conor’s career, he just looks better and better with time.
Had Jose Aldo would have ridden off into the sunset.
People would have said, “Well, you know, Conor caught him,” but it was at the end
of his career and he was done.
I mean, they would rewrite the narrative.
People rewrite the narrative of sports and life on a daily basis no matter what evidence
they are confronted with.
But Jose Aldo came back again and again and again, and looked great again and again and
again.
So there was no opportunity for the naysayers and the sportswriters to say, “Well, Conor
caught him at the end of his career.”
There was no way to do it.
You then roll into the Floyd Mayweather fight where Conor whipped him round after round
and got whipped right back.
It was a great fight, but it was still 30 minutes of a contest with the greatest to
have ever done it against a guy that didn't belong in there, a guy with an amateur record,
a guy with a white belt, a guy with zero experience, and it lasted over a half hour.
You can't take that from Conor.
Why do I bring that up as it pertains to GGG and Canelo?
Because for any of you that don’t follow boxing, Floyd Mayweather fought and beat Canelo,
handily.
Wasn’t a good fight.
Can't remember the scores.
Don’t quote me on this though you guys love to do that, but I think it was 10 rounds to
2.
I mean, Floyd ran him over.
It was shocking.
People said that Floyd would never even fight Canelo.
Canelo was 21 years old at the time.
They said, “Floyd’s too old.
Floyd won't do it.”
Floyd said, “Bring him on,” and then whipped him 10 rounds to 2, whipped him all night
long.
Wasn’t even fun to watch.
Was not a problem for Floyd at all.
Out tricked him, outboxed him, way faster than him, backed him down, made him look like
he didn't belong.
And Canelo does belong.
Canelo’s great.
I'm just saying, but Floyd was that much greater.
So then you begin the talk of, “Oh, but the real is GGG. He's coming along.”
And he did.
He came right on along, 36 and 0, championships.
Canelo beat him.
People were saying when Conor was going to fight Floyd, people in boxing that were scared
to death—oh my goodness, were they ever nervous.
They knew what was on the line.
They knew the reality.
They knew the reality that, “If we put our best of all time, our recognized greatest
we've ever produced in our sport against the guy who’s never done it and we come up short,
we're done.”
They knew that.
They admitted it.
They were men about it.
They admitted it.
But boy, were they nervous that that might be the reality that they found.
And then you did began to hear the dialogue of, “But Floyd’s older.
If this was Floyd years ago…”
And then you began to hear, “If it was Canelo,” and then when the fight was over, the talk
specifically of Canelo, “Well, you know, Floyd moves around a lot.
He touches you and he carries guys and Floyd moves and he's a point fighter.
Canelo’s a seek and destroy.
He's going to come right and b-b-boom.
He can get Conor out of there in the first round.”
You hear all of these things and they may be true, but if you work back the math, Conor
McGregor just took out all three of them.
He just took out Floyd, Canelo and GGG all in one swoop.
And even if he didn't beat Floyd, don’t forget what Conor was up against.
A win was going in there and surviving the first round.
A colossal win was going in there and just being in there three rounds.
That was a huge win.
That was something the rest of us MMA fighters who were sitting back going, “Man, if I
go three rounds with the greatest boxer in my weight class,” whatever weight class
you want to talk about, whatever division men’s, women’s, everybody’s kind of
going, “I don't know if I could go three rounds.
I don't know if I could make it that long.
Probably survive a little bit, maybe have a good showing here or there, but it's a different
sport.”
So Conor won that test.
He won that test with flying colors.
And now, by proxy, Canelo and GGG get added to that list, so it does make you wonder just
how good is that son of a bitch.