Owen Roddy discusses Conor McGregor’s return, a potential Donald Cerrone fight and gives his thoughts on “BMF” title winner Jorge Masvidal.
BAHRAIN – The band will indeed be back together for [autotag]Conor McGregor[/autotag]’s return.
Amidst rumors of a potential rift between McGregor and his longtime coaches, Owen Roddy confirmed that he and John Kavanagh will certainly be in McGregor’s corner for his next fight.
“Yup, yup, yup – yeah definitely, yeah,” Roddy told MMA Junkie.
McGregor (21-4 MMA, 9-2 UFC) recently announced that he will be making his return on Jan. 18, but no official date or opponent have been confirmed by the promotion. UFC president Dana White did, however, say that the targeted opponent for McGregor’s return fight would be [autotag]Donald Cerrone[/autotag], and that’s a matchup that Roddy would very much like to see.
“If it is ‘Cowboy,’ it would be an exciting fight, yeah,” Roddy said. “I said this a couple of months ago: ‘Cowboy’ and Conor is a great fight for the fans. Two guys that are exciting strikers – although ‘Cowboy’ is phenomenal on the ground, as well, but I think if it was a fight between them, it would be a striking battle, and I think it would be one for the fans, so if it is that, it’ll be an exciting one.”
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And with McGregor’s recent mapped out plan of a Jan. 18 fight, followed by the winner of the “BMF” title fight and then a rematch with Nurmagomedov, Roddy says McGregor is in good spirits, ready to make his return.
“I know he’s working very hard,” Roddy said. “There’s no official date set yet, but Conor’s been training very hard, as you can see. He’s in good nick. If you’re looking at any of the pictures, he’s in phenomenal shape, he’s ready to go. I’m sure everybody’s excited to see him back.”
In his last outing, McGregor failed to recapture his lightweight title and was submitted by Nurmagomedov in the fourth round of their October 2018 matchup at UFC 229. Numragomedov was able to impose his will, as he has done with all his past opponents, nullifying McGregor’s striking. The bad blood continued to boil over after the fight as a brawl ensued, suggesting that the chapter on that rivalry may not be completely closed.
McGregor chalked it up due to being too defensive minded, and while Roddy agrees to a certain extent, he believes that McGregor just wasn’t himself in the fight.
“Potentially, yeah, it was a tricky fight, and take nothing away from Khabib, he came in with a great gameplan,” Roddy said. “He got off, and he executed. but I just don’t think Conor was anywhere near the best of his ability. He wasn’t as good as he can be, and Conor on a night, at 100 percent, can beat anybody in the world.”
Meanwhile, the concept of the “BMF” belt has amassed mixed reviews, but Roddy admits he’s a fan of the idea. And with McGregor saying he’d fight the winner of the “BMF” title fight earlier this month at UFC 244, Roddy believes a potential fight with Jorge Masvidal would be another fan-favorite matchup.
“I thought it was brilliant; great marketing from the UFC,” Roddy said. “Obviously it was Nate (Diaz) that kind of brought it into an existence, but yeah, I love it. I love the idea, it’s a lovely belt, and Masvidal last week, he put on an amazing display and he’s rightfully the ‘BMF’ at the moment, but yeah, that would be a cool one down the line.”
“Yeah, most definitely, who wouldn’t want to see that fight? It would be a cracking fight.”
But for now, Roddy just wants to see McGregor back, shortly after “The Notorious” celebrated the three-year anniversary of his historic double champ feat at UFC 205, one of the many iconic moments in his career.
“I just want to see Conor back in,” Roddy said. “I think everybody just wants to see Conor back in the UFC, bring back that spectacle that is his fights. Nobody does it like Conor, and for me, I just want to see him back in there. Whatever happens after that, who knows?”
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