Conor McGregor is all over the world at this point in his career. If he’s not relaxing at home in his native Ireland, McGregor is traveling throughout the United States promoting his Proper 12 Whiskey and getting business deals done. However, that doesn’t mean his training stops. “The Notorious” will always find somewhere to get some work in when he can.
One gym he decided to pay a visit to is that of former UFC heavyweight Bas Rutten near Malibu. Rutten spoke to Submission Radio recently to detail the experience. He explained how different a person McGregor is when the cameras aren’t around:
“You know, he’s always the same. And I said this to other people, Conor’s a different guy when you see him on TV. He knows exactly when to turn it on and how to talk, and it’s so well done. You know, all the speeches he does, it’s all different. Like, I’m very boring. I prepare something that I’m going to say and will say that in 20 interviews. He’s constantly different with everything that he does.
“The fact that he’s here for business and still works out every single day means that he’s busy and he knows what his fighting is. I don’t know what he’s going to choose, I didn’t want to talk about that. I didn’t want to be the guy who was gonna watch him train and to be there, I just came there to say, hey man, great to have you here. He asked about the belts, they were hanging on the wall, and he said “my god, that’s the old UFC belts Bas, wow”, and he remembered they put the Dutch flag on it.
“All these things he knew. And then when I read that post, I said, wow, that was really nice of him. And not only that, he really went into depth in that. So no, I think he’s a really smart guy. There’s no profanity around him when he’s walking in the gym. He’s a different guy. And I already said it, cause I interviewed him a bunch of times, and he’s just such a good guy. Except when he goes on TV, then he turns it on and he knows exactly how to make that money.”
As for the Irishman’s next move, Rutten suggested an interesting idea. A return to the boxing world to settle his issues with former WBA welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi:
“Me personally, I would think what he should do also – and I know I’m making a lot of people angry here – but Paulie Malignaggi, right? That’s a great boxing match, these two guys. Malignaggi, apparently something happened in that training camp, he really doesn’t like him. I know he’s retired, but I bet you he’ll come out for McGregor.
“And that’s a fight that could be a good fight for McGregor. If it goes the distance, still, Malignaggi, because he’s very technical but he’s not a power puncher like he’s knocking people out with a knockout rate of 80 percent percent, which I think could be good. And I think that for Conor, that the first, the very first professional boxing match against a guy who’s 49-0, and then having that performance, I was pretty impressed.
“So that would be a good match for him as well. And then I would rather see him fight Max Holloway than Cerrone. Cerrone would be great fight too, that’s the thing. And I just mentioned it already, those are guys who always fight. So, we’ll always gonna see a great fight.
“So, whoever he believes he wants to give the most money too – because let’s face it, that’s it, right? I think if you’re gonna face McGregor you’re going to make millions of dollars. But both those fights I like a lot.”
What do you think about Rutten’s experience with “The Notorious”?
