Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) lightweight champion, Conor McGregor, likes to go hard when sparring in fight camp. But most combat sports fans already knew that after video leaked of “Notorious” pounding on former IBF and WBA World Champion Paulie Malignaggi.
Watch some of the footage here.
But it appears McGregor is better at dishing it out than taking it, if we’re to believe former Straight Blast Gym (SBG) Ireland teammate and ex-lightweight champion Myles Price, who claims “Mystic Mac” was chafed when “Magic” would return fire.
“I’ll be honest with you, I never really got on well with Conor within the gym because me and Conor sparred a lot. At the time, Conor was taking fights at lightweight,” Price told the Eurobash podcast (transcribed by MMA Fighting). “Basically, with Conor, he’s quite narcissistic. He’ll see you as competition. He’s not very nice to be around in the gym. If you’re giving him hard spars, he won’t see you as a friend after a while.”
Price left SBG Ireland several years back and now trains alongside reigning UFC 155-pound titleholder Khabib Nurmagomedov at the famed American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) in San Jose, Calif., where “The Eagle” prepares for his “Notorious” title fight.
Not surprisingly, he’s picking Nurmagomedov.
“It’s like having a wet blanket on you in every single session,” Price said. “When people commentate on his fights, it’s [very accurate] when they say it’s a shock when you feel what he feels like at first. I imagined what it was going to be like, but that was a whole other level of pressure. It’s calculated, it’s smart, it’s vigorous — it just keeps on coming at you over and over again.”
McGregor and Nurmagomedov will collide in the UFC 229 pay-per-view (PPV) main event, which takes place Sat., Oct. 6, 2018 inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Price, meanwhile, is hoping to finagle a fight with SBG Ireland standout Peter Queally under the Bellator banner.
For much more on UFC 229 click here.