https://twitter.com/SInow/status/702170832907456513
Sports Illustrated has caught Conor McGregor fever! While the publication has long been a Ronda Rousey cheerleader, they’ve been less forward with promoting the brash Irish fighter, perhaps waiting to see whether he’d crumple in the face of the many tough challenges he’s faced since entering the UFC.
But now, on the verge of what was originally set to be his historic attempt to hold two UFC titles at the same time, they’ve finally given him some serious love with a full cover story.
McGregor is only the third UFC fighter to ever grace the cover of Sports Illustrated. The second was Ronda Rousey, and the first was Roger Huerta in an article that was more about the rise of the sport than Huerta himself. As if being third wasn’t enough, Sports Illustrated is also featuring a film on the Irishman entitled “Conor McGregor: Unfiltered,” which is set to premiere tomorrow on their website.
“I have a deep, deep belief that if I tell you I’m going to crack you with a clean shot to the chin inside one minute of the first round and you will be unconscious, well, then that’s what will happen,” he told SI. “I let my [opponent] know. I let the world know. Then I put it in a time frame. Then I go out and do it.”
That deep belief has existed since he started fighting. “I just figured out that if I gave my all into this game — if I put everything into the fight business — then I would eventually run the fight business. That’s where we are right now.”
As for what the future holds, McGregor sounds certain of that, as well. “Take all the belts, take all the money,” he said. “Ride back to beautiful Dublin, Ireland, into the sunset.”
