SBG Ireland Patriarch John Kavanagh has described how Conor McGregor compared himself to Bruce Lee upon learning his bout with Floyd Mayweather Jr. was on
Mayweather vs. McGregor was announced to the public in June, but those behind the scenes knew more than they could let on.
John Kavanagh, the head coach of UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor, recalled McGregor’s excitement at learning that he had Mayweather as an opponent. Comparing his intentions to inflict some “Bruce Lee sh*t” on Mayweather, McGregor surprised Kavanagh (who was until then unaware that the fight was on):
“He just said: ‘The man has made a grave error. This is going to be Bruce Lee sh*t. This is water becoming the cup,’” Kavanagh told Ariel Helwani on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour (h/t Shaun Al-Shatti of MMAFighting.com). “First of all, I read that and I went, oh, the Mayweather fight is actually on. I didn’t quite believe it until then, so that blew me away, and my brain starts racing, ‘okay, I’ve got to put certain wheels into motion.’”
“But I don’t think it was until a couple of weeks later, or maybe days later, that I kinda read again and I realized what he was saying about the Bruce Lee water quote — that the ruleset might change and the strategy will change, but the fundamentals remain the same. This is something my own coach has told me a long, long time ago — Matt Thornton — that if you take an MMA fighter and you put him in a kickboxing match or a wrestling match, or a self-defense situation, the rules of engagement certainly change and that will affect your strategy, but the fundamentals of timing, of distance, of range, of how to hit hard, different striking techniques, they will remain the same.”
Mayweather vs. McGregor will be covered live on MMANews.com this Saturday, Aug. 26.
