HE HASN’T YET got his hands on the UFC lightweight belt but Conor McGregor is already hinting that he has his sights set on a third weight division.
Having claimed the featherweight title from Jose Aldo last month, the Dubliner returns to Las Vegas to face fellow Brazilian and 155-pound champion Rafael dos Anjos at UFC 197 on 5 March.
McGregor will become the first UFC fighter to hold two belts simultaneously with a win but he believes he could go one better and fight at welterweight — where Robbie Lawler is the current champion.
“I chose this fight because I came into this promotion as a two-weight champion and I always wanted to replicate that,” McGregor said after showing up late to tonight’s press conference at the MGM Grand.
“That was the goal – to continue to create history – and this man across the way from me has a title. He is a free TV fighter and has nothing else to offer me but that gold belt.
“I’m an active champion and will fight in many weight divisions.
“As it grows and all of this forms, I like the sound of that 170 belt as well. I feel I can take down them three gold belts and do it by the year’s end.
If you cut out all of this other shit, I would go through the whole roster in four months. Weigh me in and I’ll fight the next night and wipe out the entire game.”
McGregor, 27, is on a 15-fight unbeaten run after seven UFC wins since debuting in April 2013 and predicted a first-round finish of his 31-year-old opponent (27-7-0 in MMA, 15-5-0 in UFC).
“I’ll be fresh after UFC 197 as I believe I will dust Rafael inside one minute” said McGregor. “He is a slower, sloppier version of Aldo. He’s like a bum version of Aldo.
“I believe inside one minute I will dust him, I will exit the contest fresh, I will cash the cheque, I will sign the next contract for UFC 200, the brand new MGM, and we will go again.
“2015 was my year. 2016 is also my fucking year.”
When asked about the possibility of a long-awaited stadium fight in his hometown, he insists Croke Park is still the ambition but accepted that it is a long way off.
“I do crave my stadium fight in Dublin but I just have to roll with the punches here. It’s an operation to set up a stadium show like that.
“There are restrictions, limitations and they have pulled concerts from the venue previously so it’s a risk to do something like that when I’m just knocking them out so easily.
“I will get back to Dublin and we will do the show but it takes time. This is a marathon not a sprint and I look forward to having my home country lit up with a stadium show but it is a work in progress.”
As expected, it was McGregor who did most of the trash-talking as he criticised dos Anjos for leaving his native Rio de Janeiro to live in California and train out of Kings MMA.
“I set it all up and I knock it out of the park,” he said. “That’s why I’m sending you back to Brazil to our Brazilian TV partners do that media run and answer to the Brazilian people why we have to book you a hotel in your own home country?
Why your kids are named Bob and Donald? Why are you raising your children as American? Why don’t you trust in your own people?”
But dos Anjos questioned being labelled a “traitor” for moving to the US.
“For me it doesn’t make any sense,” the lightweight champion said. “The whole world has American dreams and this country has people from all different parts of the world. We have Irish, Brazilian and these people don’t deserve to be called traitors.
“This guy is calling me a traitor just because I live here with my kids and family.”
“He is speaking Spanish when we speak Portuguese in Brazil so learn Portuguese first.
“I will have the chance to finish this fight in the first round but I won’t, I’m going to punish him all the way to the third or the fourth and make him bleed. He’s going to pay for everything he is talking about.”
McGregor responded: “I’m speaking Spanish, I’m dressed like El Chapo in his prime, I’m running this company like half a wise guy, I’m up here destroying this man.
“I’m a multi-cultural individual and I am in here doing whatever I want.”
