‘He Is Always Dangerous’- Royce Gracie Believes the Critics Won’t Stop Conor McGregor From Making a UFC Return

UFC Hall of Famer Royce Gracie has shared his thoughts on ‘The Notorious’ Conor McGregor. The Gracie jiu-jitsu practitioner gave insights into what he felt about McGregor’s performance at UFC 264. He also detailed what he felt about the chances of the Irishman’s return to the octagon.

In an interview with ‘Fight Hub TV,’ the Brazilian said, “He’s a fighter. So, didn’t stop him (from coming) before. It’s a question that how much he have inside of him… if he have that fire inside of him, he will come back. He is always dangerous (and) he’s a very good fighter.”

McGregor battled Poirier in the main event of UFC 264. For most of the round, Poirier dominated him, even the judges’ scorecard at the end of the round favored him. Although McGregor suffered the leg snap, he didn’t do enough prior to that to satisfy his critics.

Gracie, though, had some words of sympathy for the Irishman. “Sometimes, we don’t know, we make comments and could size up a person. But I don’t know what kind of week at home, what kind of month he had at home.

“You see, I don’t know if he had troubles with his kids or wife at home or what’s going on in his personal life. And then he have to keep it quiet and continue in training to show up and perform for people.”

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Gracie detailed other things that could have got into the mind of McGregor before the fight. When asked if he will make a return or not, he said, “It’s up to him, not up to critics. As long as he feels the fire inside, do it.”

Has Conor McGregor lost his fighting touch?

McGregor (22-6) will go down in history as one of the best to represent the sport. If we remove his money-drawing capability and just focus on his octagon record, he still boasts of a good number.

But it is also a worrying thing that his stats in his past few fights have been nothing but ordinary. Since 2016, he has only won one fight. That win came last year against ‘Cowboy’ Donald Cerrone.

Apart from that, he had to suffer defeats against the likes of Khabib Nurmagomedov (at UFC 229) and Poirier (at UFC 257 and UFC 264).

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He was already under pressure, and this injury has added more to his woes. For now, he is out of action for almost a year. And no one knows if he would return to the octagon again or not.

Can McGregor make a successful comeback?