Conor McGregor has a record of drawing large crowds for his fights. He is arguably one of the biggest stars in the sport of mixed martial arts. However, he hasn’t been as consistent as he was a few years ago. Moreover, boxing legend Mike Tyson‘s coach, Rafael Cordeiro, who also trains Beneil Dariush, believes that the current set of lightweight fighters will dominate the Irishman in a fight.
McGregor is a former two-division champion, the first in the UFC. He holds an MMA record of 22 wins and 6 losses. He has dominated many notable fighters in Dana White’s promotion. But Rafael Cordeiro doesn’t see him among the best lightweights anymore.
Mike Tyson’s coach doesn’t rate Conor McGregor as the best
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Cordeiro recently made an appearance on the ‘Trocação Franca’ podcast. He believes that there are some great fighters in the lightweight division who can give McGregor stiff competition. He said, “There’s Arman [Tsarukyan], a super tough kid. There’s [Mateusz] Gamrot, [Dustin] Poirier. [Justin] Gaethje. A lot of people. [Rafael Fiziev], super tough guy.”
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Cordeiro mentions that people invest in the current fighters more than the former champion. He also claims that McGregor will not survive in a fight against such fighters. He said, “People worry more about these top-15 guys than Conor now, to tell you the truth. These top-15 guys today, they’d all swallow Conor.”
Rafael Cordeiro claims McGregor’s trash talk let him down
Mike Tyson’s coach believes that a champion should fail and feel uncomfortable sometimes. However, he is of the belief that McGregor has lost his edge as a fighter and may not be a championship player in the UFC anymore. “It doesn’t happen [McGregor’s success] overnight. Conor didn’t get to where he is today overnight. It was growing, but unfortunately, he didn’t have people around him to say ‘Talk less, don’t say this,” added Cordeiro.
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He mentions that McGregor running his mouth on every occasion led to his downfall. Mike Tyson’s coach also mentions that when fighters’ trash-talk and fighting skills do not go hand-in-hand, it undermines whatever they do inside the octagon.
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Conor McGregor is up for his UFC comeback in a fight against a battle-tested Michael Chandler. He recently provided an update on his training camp. But the date, time, and venue for the fight are yet to be decided. The weight-class for the fight is also undecided. What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments below.
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