It takes some going to be discussed in the same breath as UFC great Anderson Silva but Conor McGregor finds himself in just that spot.
Not since ‘The Spider’ turned the UFC’s middleweight division into his own personal striking exhibition have we seen such an enigmatic force take over the UFC but McGregor is already well on his way.
‘The Notorious’ entered the Greatest of All Time discussion, which usually ends with Silva’s name, last November when he became the first man in UFC history to hold two different titles simultaneously.
It is not just in terms of legacy that the pair have been compared but McGregor’s UFC 205 triumph over Eddie Alvarez reminded an awful lot of fans of Silva in his prime just due to the counter speed of the Irishman.
What McGregor has that Silva never truly enjoyed is a hardcore mainstream following and one which genuinely believes McGregor is invincible at times.
But the former long-time middleweight champion to whom McGregor is so often compared nowadays does not agree with talk of the Dubliner possessing a flawless skill set.
“He has flaws. We all have flaws. And his flaws are clear,” Silva told MMA Fighting. “He defends well, but he doesn’t have jiu-jitsu. The main thing is that he uses his movement and his opponent’s movement in his advantage.
“He never puts himself in uncomfortable positions. Everyone who fought him put themselves in uncomfortable positions and weren’t able to get back to comfortable positions again.”
McGregor is currently in the early stages of a self-imposed hiatus, as he takes time away from the sport so that he can be focused on the arrival of his firstborn, but that’s doing nothing to keep him out of the headlines with talk ramping up this week of a potential mammoth super-fight against Floyd Mayweather.
Mayweather announced that an offer was on the table for ‘The Notorious’ before UFC president Dana White issued a counter-offer to the 49-0 boxing great.
And, during the above interview, Brazil’s Silva was asked what he makes of the possible cross-sport clash and insisted that he wouldn’t write off chances of a McGregor upset.
“I think everybody has a chance,” Silva added. “When you step inside (the ring) to fight, you have a chance. Of course that if you’re fighting Mayweather, people would say ‘oh, McGregor won’t last a round,’ but we never know.”
“The movement is different, how you have your feet on the ground is different, the timing is different in boxing,” he continued. “The only way to see is putting them to fight. He would have to stop at least a year to be able to do a close fight, and I believe he should do it.”
