Owen Roddy doesn’t think Tony Ferguson would be able to take Conor McGregor’s best shots.
Newly-crowned UFC interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson has promised to ‘haunt’ Conor McGregor’s dreams, but the Irishman’s striking coach, Owen Roddy, thinks ‘El Cucuy’ would be the one haunted by McGregor’s killer left hand.
Ferguson, who beat Kevin Lee at UFC 216 this past Saturday to win lightweight gold, is one of the most unpredictable and unorthodox fighters in the division, but Roddy believes his style plays into McGregor’s hands.
Speaking to Submission Radio in a recent interview, McGregor’s longtime coach and friend thinks it would be ‘lights out’ for Ferguson if he tried to stand and trade with ‘The Notorious’.
“His style is, you know, it’s not traditional, it’s a bit unorthodox and stuff, but I just honestly think that Conor’s going to be way too clean for Ferguson,” Roddy told Submission Radio hosts Kacper Rosolowski and Denis Shkuratov, per MMA Fighting’s Peter Carroll.
“If Ferguson tries to stand with Conor for an extended period of time it will be lights out, in my opinion.”
With that said, Roddy believes the clash of styles between Ferguson and McGregor would make for an entertaining fight.
“You know, he’s tough as well, he’s tough and durable, so he may take a couple of smacks, but at the end of the day Conor’s going to be way too clean and too technical to…he won’t get touched.
“That’s my opinion. But yeah, it will be an interesting one and it will be an exciting fight as well because Ferguson does come to fight and he’s aggressive, he goes in, he looks to finish fights, so it will be exciting. But yeah, without a doubt if he wants to stand and bang with Conor it’ll be lights out fairly quick, I think.”
Roddy thinks a trilogy fight with Nate Diaz would be best for the fans, but McGregor, the official 155-pound champ, has promised to return to the Octagon to defend his title and legitimize the rankings.
According to UFC president Dana White, McGregor wants to defend his belt by the end of the year but Roddy thinks a return in the new year is more likely.
McGregor, 29, recently fought none other than Floyd Mayweather Jr. in the boxing ring at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena. The SBG Ireland product started off well, landing more shots than many fans expected, but faded towards the middle rounds and was finished by a barrage of punches in the 10th.
