– Niall Kelly reports from Boston
THE INVASION IS in full swing.
“To be honest I feel like I’m in Dublin,” Aisling Daly said as hundreds of fans packed into Ned Devine’s — yes, an Irish pub — for the UFC Fight Night Boston media day on Friday afternoon.
An hour before the fighters were scheduled to arrive, the queue already stretched back down the corridor.
That is the kind of excitement which Conor McGregor now generates on these shores. Add in the three other Irishmen on the card — Cathal Pendred, Paddy Holohan and Norman Parke — as well as regular crowd-pleasers like Benson Henderson and Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone and it’s easy to see why the small room in Boston’s famous Faneuil Hall was at capacity.
The Irish flags and Irish voices were dotted throughout the crowd, the general hum of conversation broken by a chorus of “Olé Olé” or “There’s Only One Conor McGregor,” usually timed to coincide with the appearance of a camera crew.
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Among them was Gary Taaffe from Drimnagh, sporting a tricolour with McGregor’s face and the “Notorious” logo.
“I flew to New York yesterday,” he told The42. “My cousin lives in New York so we got the train up at four o’clock this morning.
“It’s brilliant. I’m looking forward to the weigh-in tomorrow, it’s going to be crazy.
And a prediction?
I say one minute! It could even go in the first exchange. I’m looking forward to that.
Inside the rope, media scrambled from fighter to fighter to collect their final thoughts before tomorrow’s weigh-in.
“I think this is a great matchup for me,” Pendred told The42 ahead of his welterweight bout with Sean Spencer.
“He’s a step up in terms of UFC experience. He’s got three wins so on paper he looks like a step up but stylistically I think he really suits me.
“He’s light on his feet and likes to keep it standing but I’ve been working a lot on my standup and I think I’m going to surprise him.”
Holohan is the first of the Irish fighters in the Octogon on Sunday night when he faces Shane Howell.
“This could be a fairytale adventure,” he said.
For me, my whole family, my country, my team, my son — there’s a lot to be gained by going out there very, very focused and popping this guy out.
When the questions stopped, UFC president Dana White squared off the fighters on the main stage at the top of the room. Pendred roused one last “Olé Olé” from the crowd but, as expected, the loudest cheers were reserved for McGregor.
As he stepped forward to face Siver, there was none of the bubbling animosity that we saw in the build-up to his most recent wins against Diego Brandao and Dustin Poirier. His opponent, impassive, looked him up and down and waited for White’s signal to step back.
Before he was whisked away, McGregor stopped for a quick meet and greet with those who had arrived early enough to bag a place on the rope.
Across town, featherweight champion Jose Aldo touched down. Himself and McGregor look to be on a collision course.
Only Siver can spoil the party now.
