“[I can understand him] a little bit. I think he might be burnt out maybe, he’s had a lot of fights back-to-back. He has done a world tour before with the Aldo thing, same thing with this guy RDA. But three months out from the fight, that’s a long time. So it’s not like they’re requiring unrealistic things, it’s all normal stuff. All of us athletes, all of us fighters we do it. We plan for it. Coming off a loss, I know how he feels. He wants to spend his time training. I think this right here is what made Conor McGregor Conor McGregor, but at the same his fight skills back it up. He can talk well, he had to train his butt of to get where he’s at. And coming off a loss he’s looking for that lifeline again, and the closest lifeline to him is his coaches, that’s what you turn to first. Coaches are gonna say, ‘forget all this, let’s get back to what got you there. And that’s what he’s thinking about, forget all this. That’s what I would think, that’s what I was told when I lost my belt. Forget about everything else and let’s get back to the gym. Let’s get back to the basics and get to what got you to that position. And that was just hard work in the gym.”
-Former UFC Lightweight Champion Anthony Pettis responds to this week’s ongoing Conor McGregor saga during a media day for UFC 197 (transcribed by BloodyElbow.com).
Penick’s Analysis: McGregor isn’t being unreasonable in wanting to get back to training and concentrating on being able to follow up on all of his talking, but there is something to be said about the fact that the promotion is a big part of what brought him to this spot. They go hand in hand in many ways, and though there are certainly things that can be done to rectify the situation this week – things don’t have to be blown up by him not being in Las Vegas this week – McGregor may have to cede some ground himself here. Regardless, it’s an easy enough spot to understand, and given Pettis is and has been on the comeback trail, he knows what it’s like to need to get back to what made you successful before.
[Photo (c) Joe Camporeale via USA Today Sports]
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