"He's a journeyman fighter, and that's what I see."
And with that nugget on opponent Dustin Poirier to MMAjunkie's Mike Bohn, The Conor McGregor Show was officially in full swing.
The lead-up to UFC 178 has been one of typical bombast for the Irishman, who has rapidly become the promotion's hottest commodity to have never beaten a top-10 opponent.
Brash and blustering, the featherweight prospect has beaten those that the UFC has offered him and talked about beating those who have continually seemed far off. On Saturday night, he'll try to bump off Poirier in his quest to the top, in the most hotly anticipated 145-pound non-title tilt the UFC has ever put off.
I've decided i'm going to toy with him.
— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) September 24, 2014
Though McGregor would likely disagree, Poirier would not be described as a journeyman by many. Other adjectives could persist—nasty, skillful, full of potential—but very few would be designed to detract. The Lafayette, Louisiana, native is still only 25, and he's been in there with some of the best in the business. More often than not, he comes out on the right side of the ledger.
Yet here's McGregor, his toughest victory one that came through gritted teeth and a torn ACL against Max Holloway, firmly poking his man in the chest. Draped in his national tricolor, he's proclaiming he's come not to take part but to take over and that his countrymen are coming behind him.
He believes there's not a man alive who can touch him. In three weight classes.
He believes he's destined to hold the title. This year.
He believes he'll be victorious at UFC 178. In less than five minutes.
Who ya got?
Whether he's right or not is almost irrelevant. There's plenty of time to flesh out those details, both in terms of cage time and months on the calendar. Where McGregor ends up on Saturday and beyond will play out for the world to see, likely under a spotlight that will only continue to grow as he finds people to punch and others to talk to about it.
What is relevant, though, is that beyond the bluster lies a staunch test. Poirier is no pushover, and it's very real that McGregor will be tried like never before come Saturday. This is a different class of opponent, a different class of event and a different class of stakes.
There's no reason to believe McGregor's not up to it, what with the hype and attitude he exudes every time he even talks about combat.
But there's reason to be aware.
MMA has a way of humbling even the truest of kings, and McGregor already sees himself as royalty in the sport. If UFC 178 is to be a coronation recognized by everyone else, though, he'll need to perform one more time.
No amount of talk changes that.
