Conor McGregor has had to make major adjustments as he prepares for his first fight in three years at UFC 303 this summer.
The legendary two-weight UFC champion will face Michael Chandler on June 29 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. It will be his first outing since UFC 264 when he broke his leg against Dustin Poirier in an heated trilogy bout.
However, things are have changed now for McGregor after so long out of the cage. And one key part of his training camp will be noticeably different as he gave up one major exercise following an incident last year in Dublin.
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Conor McGregor admits that being hit by a car has changed his training
In January of last year, McGregor was cycling his bike in preparation for his comeback fight against Chandler, which had just been confirmed although no date was set. But while taking on a road just outside of Dublin a driver didn’t notice him and went straight through his bike, sending him into the air.
Somehow, the UFC star escaped with only minor scrapes, and shared a video on social media after the fact of the driver bringing him home. During the build-up to his last fight with Poirier, the Irishman famously cycled to and from training camp with fans in California every day.
But since the incident last year, McGregor hasn’t hit the road on his bike. He posted an Instagram story reminiscing on the crash this morning with the caption “Still haven’t gone back out on my bike after this.”
The video shows a clearly flustered driver profusely apologising to McGregor. The fighter appears to be trying to calm down proceedings as he assures him that everything is okay, but does note that he’s “after getting away with his life” and that he “could have been dead”.
McGregor can then be heard accepting a lift home as “that bike’s f***ed”. He then shows the driver to viewers and introduces him before telling the camera that “it wasn’t our time, God bless.”
Conor McGregor backed to beat Michael Chandler as rival told he is ‘coming for a payday’
For the past two years, Chandler has been sitting out of action as he eagerly awaits a fight with McGregor that has been promised to him. Facing a superstar of that calibre is a life changing opportunity, but many feel that he has wasted time in pursuit of the elusive bout.
And UFC legend Dan Hardy reckons that McGregor is in the driving seat as the fight moves closer, noting that the former Bellator champion is not at the same level in terms of fight IQ. Speaking on The MMA Hour, Hardy said: “Michael Chandler is not the guy that he was in Bellator.
“He was cautious and he was picking his shots. If he plays the game that he did against, say, Sidney Outlaw where he was poised and ready and waiting to land that clean shot then that Chandler can beat anybody with that speed off the mark and that power.
“But he has become a lot more reckless recently and that just plays into Conor McGregor’s game. McGregor made Jose Aldo reckless and then punished him for it.
“Chandler comes in reckless, he’s coming in for a payday and a show. He’s not thinking ‘right, I’m going to beat Conor McGregor and I’m going to do it this particular way’. He’s coming to fight.”
Conor McGregor promises to break UFC gate record with comeback fight
The majority of UFC records when it comes to revenue generated are held by McGregor, who is the sport’s biggest ever star. He has headlined almost every one of the promotion’s highest-selling pay-per-view events.
And with regards to gate records, in the time since his last fight at UFC 264 just one event has landed into the top five. Sean O’Malley’s UFC 299 headliner is still nowhere near the $17.7million generated by McGregor’s sole outing at Madison Square Garden for UFC 205.
Now, the Irishman is promising to take the promotion into new territory with a monstrous ticket income. In a new tweet, McGregor told fans that he was about to bring in “$20m+ dollar gate incoming for the UFC. #McGregorSportsandEntertainment.”