Last night Ariel Helwani interviewed Conor McGregor for ESPN and the Irish fighter admitted he was “not doing what I should’ve been doing” in the week ahead of his fight against Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229.
“I was drinking all the way through fight week,” McGregor said, and went on to describe how he participated in “full-blown” fights in the gym. “I had people holed up in a hotel from that part of the world [Dagestan/Russia], and I would ring and arrange a fight and I would ring them and they would come down to the gym and have a full-blown fight – no head guard, gloves that were small,” McGregor said. “A fight. I’d win, I’d have a war, and I’d win and I’d knock the guy out then I’d go off and celebrate. Then I’d come back in three days.”
As we enter fight week for McGregor’s bout against Donald Cerrone at UFC 246, he says he’s doing things differently for this camp. “[I haven’t had a drink since] three, four months ago, maybe, yeah… I’m in a great spot now, and that’s it. And I’ve put … I’ve made mistakes. And, you know, I’ve been man enough to admit them and correct them. And that’s what I’ve done.”
McGregor said this training camp has been “phenomenal.” “My coaches, my team, everyone’s been in sync together. And we’ve had a great camp and we’re very, very happy here.”
Watch the full interview below:
