Having had a few days to get used to the city that will host potentially his last fight before he meets featherweight champion, Jose Aldo, Conor McGregor is feeling very comfortable in a home away from home for the Irish, Boston.
If there was any doubt about who the Bostonian audience would be rooting for on Sunday night after the manic support he received in the stadium in his sophomore UFC outing, the Irish featherweight spoke of how the city has embraced him ahead of is meeting with Dennis Siver.
“It’s very good, it’s a beautiful place over here,” said a calm McGregor. “It’s crazy, it is. I can’t even walk around the place – wait ’til you see. I’m on buses, I’m on big ass billboards. I was on the motorway and I saw this billboard, I have never seen anything as big as it in my entire life.
“I’m on every bin – these aren’t the little bins you see back in Ireland – these are some mad, state-of-the-art bins. Fuckin’ spaceship bins. The people of Boston have really embraced me.
“This fight will go live straight after one of the biggest American football games of the year for the people in this neck of the woods. There are so many people getting behind us and I believe the arena is just about sold out.
“This is an 18,000 seat arena and the event is taking place when the team that Bostonians support – the New England Patriots – are playing their biggest game of the year and the place is still going to sell out.”
With so much on the line for the Dubliner this Sunday night, McGregor seems utterly unfazed by the title shot and potential record breaking event that hang in the balance of the TD Garden main event.
“There is a lot on the line, it’s a beautiful thing. Yes it’s pressure, but it’s always pressure. Every time we compete we are stepping into a pressure bubble, that’s what the Octagon is,” he explained.
“I don’t feel any different. There are monumental occasions ahead, there are monumental occasions present but I just carry on. I don’t really dwell on it too much, I just focus on my training. I focus on becoming better and that’s all that I really care about.”
Pondering if there was a particular technique that he believes could finish the night for his German adversary, the Dubliner highlighted that there were “many” weapons in his arsenal that could finish the bout.
“There are many shots, I never just have one shot,” said McGregor. “There is the jumping roundhouse, a spinning hook kick and then there’s always my straight left to sting him straight down the pipe.
“The jumping switch knee could happen either with Siver, he’s a very short individual. I feel like I have multiple shots, I always visualize multiple shots landing clean. We’ll see.”
John Kavanagh believes that the bout with Siver may not even get passed the first exchange, as the SBG coach firmly believes that the German has never fought anyone with the ‘one shot stopping power’ of his surging featherweight.
Having already predicted a finish inside the first two minutes of the contest, McGregor highlighted how he agrees with his SBG coach and is expecting to land a barrage of shots to introduce himself to his opponent in the TD Garden.
McGregor said: “I agree with John, I don’t think anyone has ever hit him as hard as I will on Sunday night. I gave a two-minute prediction and I feel that’s a fair prediction. I will land four or five shots inside the frame of that first exchange, but we’ll have to see. I haven’t said two minutes on the dot, it could be anywhere inside them first two minutes.”
‘The Notorious’ discussed how he was disappointed that he was unable to face off with Jose Aldo after he travelled to watch his bout with Chad Mendes in late October. Now, with the Brazilian champion scheduled to be Octagon-side for Sunday night’s main event, McGregor is hopeful that he will be brought in for a face off if he gets the job done.
“I would have liked to get in and be faced off with him after he fought Mendes,” he said. “He took an ass whooping in that fight so he wasn’t up to it. I didn’t want to be disrespectful to the man after he got beat up. I would’ve bounced into the cage had that not been the case.
“For me, I believe Dennis will fall early. I will be fresher than Jose even though he’s sitting in the crowd. They can bring him and get him to face off if they want. I’ll hand him my spit bucket.”
Asked what he imagined Aldo would feel as he watched the bout, McGregor only needed one word: “Fear.”
Finally, McGregor commented on whether he believes it will be a clean sweep for the Irish on the night with teammates Cathal Pendred and Paddy Holohan set for action, as well as Antrim man Norman Parke.
“Yeah I think all of the Irish fighters can win. I feel Paddy is going to run away with his contest. Cathal is as strong and as tough as ever. I cannot speak for Norman because I do not train with him, but I do wish him well and I think we can all do it once again,” he said.
@PetesyCarroll
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