Conor McGregor did what many thought was impossible over the weekend, taking the lightweight belt off Eddie Alvarez to become the first simultaneous two belt champion in UFC history. What’s crazy, though, is that it didn’t even look hard for McGregor. He knocked Alvarez down three times in the first round before icing him in the second with a flurry that landed, shot after shot. He even took the time to play with Alvarez, holding both hands behind his back and holding his chin out.
There’s more to that story though than just a spur of the moment taunt. It turns out McGregor spent a decent amount of time during his camp training in that very position.
“This was out of action for the whole camp,” he said after the event, holding up his right hand. “That’s why I developed that putting the hand behind my back. I would be doing it in sparring, then I’d jar it or hit it and it would be swelling up in the middle of the rounds — I just figured out ways to fight around it.”
“To be honest, I was icing it up until today but it’s actually alright now. I’m brand new. There’s not a f**king scratch on me.”
Moments after McGregor’s victory on Saturday, his training partner Artem Lobov posted a pretty relevant photo to his Twitter account showing Conor training with both hands behind his back:
— Artem Lobov (@RusHammerMMA) November 13, 2016
Just another unique skill the Irish fighter holds. He may not want to try it all that often, though.