We’re seeing a much more cerebral Conor McGregor in the build up to UFC 194 than the high-strung showman on the UFC 189 world tour.
With a lack of potential opponents present, and his teammates Gunnar Nelson and Artem Lobov either side of him, the Notorious spoke in a refreshingly calm manner to press during a media scrum on Thursday.
McGregor has come under fire for certain things he’s said in the past, from calling Dennis Siver a Nazi to his infamous poppy rant on Facebook. He revealed to the media that he does regret some comments he’s made in the past, but he feels it’s important not to dwell on them.
“Sometimes I regret saying things and say ‘why would I say stupid shit like that?’ but then I don’t care about it as well.
“There’s so many interviews, there’s so many cameras, there’s so many times I’ve done this that I just let it flow. Whatever it is that I say, if I regret it, I regret it. It is what it is.”
McGregor added that although he has regrets, he would never apologise for speaking the truth, no matter how harsh it may sound.
“I certainly wouldn’t regret something like that, speaking the truth. You can’t regret speaking the truth, you can’t apologise for that.”
A female reporter asked the UFC interim featherweight champion to respond to allegations that some of his trash talk could be perceived as sexist.
“If that has maybe offended you, then I sincerely apologise.”
Comments such as “I love Jose Aldo like my bitch” and “Chad Mendes hits like a bitch” have received some backlash for possibly being offensive to women. McGregor’s dealt with the suggestion in an extremely mature manner.
“Maybe things like that, if I was to look back and I was to sit there with my mother by my side or my sisters. [But] it’s different up there, in the heat of the moment you might say some things, but again, all you got to do is look at the women. They’re hitting harder than the men now. Maybe I should stop saying that.”
He capped it off by showcasing his patented humour.
“But I do love him. I do love Jose, and a bitch is a dog, right? So I could save myself there a little bit.”
