23 March 2023 , 11:36
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Conor McGregor has boasted he would "smack anyone around" in the UFC up to the light-heavyweight division.
Former two-weight champion McGregor, 34, is gearing up for his fighting return when he faces Michael Chandler later this year. The rivals have just finished filming for The Ultimate Fighter season 31 and the reality TV series will from May to August, with McGregor and Chandler expected to meet in the cage shortly after that.
Training is clearly going well for McGregor as he is confident he could beat every fighter in the middleweight division despite having never competed at the weight class. In a now-deleted tweet, the Irishman wrote: “Coupla ten k runs, few rounds sparring, id smack anyone around up to light heavy.”
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McGregor has been criticised for his cardiovascular endurance throughout his fighting career but 'Notorious' will seemingly try to improve his output by training at Big Bear in California, which is almost 7000 feet above sea level, ahead of his against Chandler. McGregor revealed his new training location in a tweet that read: "We will commence camp in big bear shortly."
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Whilst praising his longtime coach John Kavanagh, McGregor went on a tirade in which he slammed other world-renowned MMA trainers. The Irishman wrote in a now-deleted tweet: "Firaz Zihabi is a little d*****bag, Trevor Wittman is a pad man. Javier Mendez is a fat lick a** kickboxer, Mike Brown is a smelly p***k, Greg Jackson got caught up, the system of coach Kavanagh is now shining through. In years to come the world will know what we have been at."
Conor McGregor makes his UFC return later this year (Zuffa LLC)Kavanagh guided McGregor to world titles in the UFC and Cage Warriors, but his highest-profile fighter is now without a win in over three years. McGregor was stopped twice by bitter rival Dustin Poirier in 2021 and his last win came against now-retired Donald Cerrone in just 40-seconds at UFC 246 in January 2020.
McGregor is hoping to add a third world title to his UFC belt collection, which would make him the first ever fighter in the promotion to achieve the feat. He joked his comeback fight against Chandler would take place at 185lb but has since confirmed it will be at welterweight. That doesn't mean McGregor won't compete at 185lb in the future as he previously tweeted: "I’m going to give middleweight a go at some point 100 per cent. I'd be a big fridge at middleweight, but hot like oven same time, it'll be hard work."