Israel Adesanya was highly impressed with Conor McGregor’s performance at UFC 246.
‘The Notorious’ one returned to actions on Saturday night and tussled with Donald Cerrone in a welterweight clash between two fan-favourites in Las Vegas, Nevada.
In front of a sold-out crowd, McGregor pulled off another iconic victory as he finished the MMA veteran just 40-seconds into the opening round, utilizing brutal shoulder strikes, a head kick, and ground-and-pound.
Scoring his first MMA win in three years, the UFC superstar said there is still a lot of work to do as he sets his sights on bigger fights at 170 pounds.
“I feel really good, and I came out of here unscathed,” McGregor stated.
“I’m in shape. We’ve got work to do to get back to where I was.”
“Any one of these mouthy fools can get it.”
“Every single one of them can get it. It does not matter. I’m back and I’m ready.”
Good Win
Adesanya, who is also under Paradigm Sports Management, has commented on the Irishman’s UFC 246 victory, saying he is ‘a big fan’ of the shoulder strikes and the head kick.
“It was great, I loved it. I appreciated the way he played the game,” he told ESPN in a recent interview, (transcript from MMA News).
“I loved the shoulder strikes, that was gangster. I liked the head kick, that was sick, it was real slick. I’m a big fan.”
“And obviously his management team is my management team, so it’s good. It’s a good win for us because when he wins, I win; when I win, he wins.”
“It’s good for us because we get to claim a lot of the chips on the table.”
The ‘Last Stylebender’ is scheduled to defend his middleweight title at UFC 248 on March 7 against the Cuban powerhouse, Yoel Romero.
Rematch
Meanwhile, McGregor is likely to face Khabib Nurmagomedov for his next UFC outing as Dana White said the lightweight rematch is the next big fight to make.
“And when you look at this for Khabib; Khabib is 28-0, he is undefeated,” the UFC president said.
“To go 28-0 in this sport, I don’t care who you have fought; it’s tough to do. Well this guy is a world champion.”
“After tonight and with how Khabib won the first time and how famous Khabib has become since that first fight, we’re looking at like Hagler vs Hearns.”
“We’re looking at like Ali vs Foreman, Ali vs Frazier – this is a massive fight with global appeal.”
“It’s the fight you make, it’s the fight that makes sense and it’s the fight for the 155lbs title.”
(Featured Image Source: Instagram/ Conor McGregor and Israel Adesanya)