Conor McGregor isn't looking for an early knockout when he faced Donald Cerrone on Saturday night with the Irishman explaining he's hoping to get rounds under his belt at UFC 246.
McGregor returns to the octagon for the first time in over a year when he faces Cerrone on Saturday in Las Vegas and he looks reinvigorated in recent interviews, and a lot more respectful towards his opponent than in the past.
And, despite predicting at the press conference he'll knock his opponent out, the Notorious has revealed that he's hoping the fight goes the distance, "I just want activity," McGregor said, "I'm going to go in and I'm going to look to acquire rounds in here. I'm not going to be in a rush.
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"I'm going to put pressure on Donald, I'm going to hurt Donald. If he can last, I'll be happy.
"I'll be happy to acquire rounds in here and then build on these rounds.
"I feel after the Diaz two build-up I had and then the performance I had and the bout itself and then leading into the Eddie Alvarez fight, I just felt like I was in primed conditioned and untouchable. So I'm looking to acquire that time in there again."
The fight at UFC 246 is at welterweight and the previous two occasions the Notorious has fought at that weight were against Nate Diaz in hard fought wars.
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McGregor lost the first fight, his first loss with the promotion, when he was tapped out by the Stockton Slugger but returned for the rematch to win it on points.
As he mentioned, his next fight following the win over Diaz was the win over Eddie Alvarez, potentially the most convincing of his career, that led him to become a two weight champion.
It seems like welterweight is where McGregor's immediate future lies with the 31-year-old eyeing either Jorge Masvidal's BMF title or Kamaru Usman's UFC title. "Like I said, this 170 bout, I made this bout at 170 for the excitement that's going on in the 170-pound division and my want to get in there with the situation for the 'Bad Motherf****r belt' or the actual world championship belt.
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"Both of those men are also on my radar."
Before he looks ahead to the next fights McGregor will be hoping to get some rounds under his belt, clear any cage rust, put on a good show and beat Cerrone.
Will McGregor win?
Featured Image Credit:Topics: Donald Cerrone, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Conor Mcgregor, Nate Diaz, Jorge Masvidal, UFC News, MMA News, UFC 246, UFC, jose aldo, MMA