We’ve seen many different types of UFC champion before.
There’s been trash-talkers, pictures of reverence and everything in between.
There’s no doubt about which side of that line that Conor McGregor lies on and upcoming opponent Rafael dos Anjos believes that he represents the sport of MMA poorly.
‘The Notorious’ ramped up the mindgames with the UFC lightweight champion as the pair came face to face last week at the first UFC 197 press conference in Las Vegas.
“He crosses the line all the time,” dos Anjos said, as quoted by MMAFighting. “He answered questions the media asked me, talked about my kids, said I’m not a Brazilian. Man, all the time. He said I’m sloppy. He crosses the line all the time.
“He’s here to confuse everyone, give the sport a bad image. He thinks it’s nice to dress up like a drug dealer. I don’t think that’s a nice way to promote a fight. That doesn’t add anything to the sport. Georges St-Pierre always sold well as a champion doing exactly the opposite.”
In all of McGregor’s years of talking trash, it was the first time that he’d brought his opponent’s kids into the discussion and dos Anjos admits that that got under his skin.
“That bothered me, but I knew he would bring those weapons. I was ready for that,” he said. “Talk about my wife, my kids, Jesus, my team. What can I do? He’s a lunatic. I will answer him on March 5. (Fabricio) Werdum called me saying ‘my friend, go get him, throw something at him, a bottle’. But that’s not my style. I will answer him when the time comes. On March 5, I will be the one doing the talk.”
UFC featherweight champion McGregor has become a master of getting into rivals’ heads, with UFC president Dana White telling Kevin Iole last month that the Irishman “is the greatest mental warfare fighter I have ever met.”
But dos Anjos believes he is used to having fighters worm their way into his mind and that it’s something that motivates him to work harder.
“Every opponent gets inside my head because I think about them for three or four months,” he said. “He’s in my head just like every other opponent before. I wake up thinking about him, I go to the gym thinking about him. That’s how he’s in my head. Nate Diaz pushed me at the weigh-in, but I fight ever better when my opponents make it personal. I will dominate him.”
