Getty Image / Chris Unger
It’s been a hot minute since we’ve last seen Conor McGregor, as his last victory came in 2020 over an aging Donald Cerone.
Even so, the superstar fighter aims to return to the octagon after this season of The Ultimate Fighter.
There are still some hurdles McGregor must overcome though, as he must clear USADA testing to be cleared to fight again.
With everything going on, one prestigious MMA coach believes Conor McGregor will never reach the top of the mountain in the lightweight division ever again.
According to MMA Fighting, coach Rafael Cordeiro, who is currently training Beneil Dariush, claims that McGregor wouldn’t be able to beat any lightweight within the top-15.
Here is Cordeiro’s full statement and it’s hard to argue against him.
“There’s Arman [Tsuryan], a super tough kid. There’s [Mateusz] Gamrot, [Dustin] Poirier, [Justin] Gaethje. A lot of people. [Rafael] Fiziev, super tough guy. Those are names that, f***, I’d much rather watch them fight than Conor. And everybody fights [McGregor] now for what he represents. He’s lost that challenge thing, ‘I wanna fight Conor because he’s tough and knocks everybody out.’ No, it has gotten to a point where people couldn’t care less for that. ‘I wanna fight this guy because he generates good money.’ That’s what they worry about.”
The prestigious MMA coach goes on to explain why he thinks Conor McGregor has lost his edge, per MMA Fighting.
“People worry more about those top-15 guys than Conor now, to tell you the truth. These top-15 guys today, they’d all swallow Conor. Nothing against Conor, but, unfortunately, the time away, the leg surgery, the [lack of] motivation, the money, the drinking, looking swollen of booze — he’s living life like crazy, so you lose the interest a little bit. He’s doing The Ultimate Fighter now, the Conor show, but where’s the guy in the mountains, training quietly? That’s the champion. When you have media ahead of everything else you automatically lose a bit of the hunger, I think.”
Coach Rafael Cordeiro makes some solid points. It’ll be interesting to see if Conor McGregor can bounce back in the octagon.
On the other hand, the former double champion seems to enjoy the life he’s currently living. Either way, look for the UFC to hopefully announce a date for Conor McGregor’s upcoming matchup against Michael Chandler soon.