To be the man, you’ve got to beat the man, is what they say. After beating the consensus pound-for-pound best fighter on the planet in only 13 seconds at UFC 194 last Saturday, the new UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor believes he is the best in the world now.
“I believe so,” McGregor said at the post-fight press conference (Transcribed by FOX Sports). “I believe there are many great fighters. There are people who do great things. But when you combine it all together, when you combine the whole package, the whole animal that is the fight game, I don’t think there’s nobody that does it better than me. I think I am the pound-for-pound No. 1.”
McGregor was able to score a one-punch knockout against former champion Jose Aldo, who hasn’t been beaten for over a decade. An accomplishment, that is already stunning in itself, but that is even more fascinating, considering that the 27-year old Irishman predicted it exactly the way it happened.
“Again, with these small gloves and with the correct amount of force and correct timing, the human chin can’t take it. I said one round. He was currently the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter on the roster, undefeated in 10 years, the company’s only featherweight champion. Who comes in and predicts one-round KOs? I did.”
McGregor will very likely go up in weight now to fight for a championship in the 155-pound division, but made it very clear that he doesn’t want to vacate his 145-pound belt in the process, and become a two-division champion instead. Lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos and Donald Cerrone will fight for the title next Saturday at UFC on FOX and determine a possible next opponent for McGregor.