Conor McGregor’s striking coach, Owen Roddy, insists his fighter “has that hunger again” as the former two-division champion prepares to return to the UFC in January.
And the trainer, known as McGregor’s left-hand man because of his coaching approach with ‘The Notorious’, went even further by decaling; “A hungry, dedicated and motivated Conor McGregor is a scary dude”.
Make no mistake, Roddy knows his stuff. He’s been with the Irish fighter every step of the way so when he speaks out, we sit up and listen.
A former fighter himself, Roddy is often regarded as one of the best who wasn’t signed by the UFC. He retired due to injury with a record of 11 wins 4 losses back in 2012, and ever since then has dedicated himself to coaching.
A former student of John Kavanagh, he still trains amateurs in Dublin the same way he trains the most famous fighter in UFC history, and is looking forward to seeing McGregor back at his best.
“I think when you start to see some footage of him training, he starts to do his interviews and he starts building the fight, you’re going to see the old Conor back,” Roddy told MMA Fighting. “I can see that already. When people see that, they’re going to say, ‘That’s the Conor we fell in love with.’”
McGregor will fight Donald Cerrone in Las Vegas on January 18th, in a much-anticipated return to the octagon after losing to Khabib Nurmagomedov in October 2018.
And preparation is going much better than before previous fights, according to Roddy, who added: “The training camp is structured way better. The last camp was just a bit sporadic. We didn’t know what time we were training at. Sometimes it was very late at night, sometimes it was early in the morning and nobody really knew.
“Even though we were making all of these sessions, I don't think that’s good for you when he doesn’t even know what time he’s going to train at, just doing it off feel.
“For the past couple of months, it’s been very regimented. We’re doing strength and conditioning, whether it’s in the morning or evening, and then doing a technical session and it’s perfect. You can see that he’s reaping the benefits and rewards already from that.”
We can’t wait to see what treats a hungry Conor McGregor serves-up come January.
