Behind The Scenes: Camp McGregor

By Joe “JD” David

With Under 3 weeks left until UFC 194 in the MGM Grand Garden Arena, verbal jabs between featherweight champ Jose “Scarface” Aldo and challenger Conor “The Notorious” McGregor will steadily build up to the potential “record breaking” night. Getting a better look inside the world of the brash Irishman is “Rowdy” Owen Roddy, a former Irish featherweight champion and McGregor’s striking coach, a coach for Team Europe on the current season of TUF. (The Ultimate fighter)

“I think Conor is going to shock everybody again,” said Roddy. “Honestly, I think he’s going to make this look easy. I really think Conor is going to embarrass Aldo. I think Aldo is going to come out very aggressive, Conor will make him miss and then he’s going to punish him for that with his devastating striking.

“Aldo has to close that distance and Conor is a lot bigger than him, he’s a lot longer. In order for Aldo to land, he’s going to have move forward. He has to get on the inside to land them shots and that’s when he’s going to get clipped. Conor is going to be very elusive and he’ll crack him as he’s trying to come in.

“The thing with the Mendes fight, people are talking about how Mendes took him down. That’s funny to me because in between the rounds Conor was telling us, ‘I just want to take my time, I’ll just relax and eventually I’ll make my move.’ He might have got cut, but he was totally in control of what he was trying to do. People will always talk, but at no point did we feel he was in trouble. In between them rounds he was in a happy place, he was good to go.” Roddy said.

Having this insight from Roddy only tells part of the story to this blockbuster event. In the fight game, most know that the warfare starts well before either fighter steps foot in the octagon, and that “mental warfare” first punch was thrown last July.  See it the same way Roddy does?