Conor McGregor was in comparison with ‘young Muhammad Ali’ by MMA GOAT just 3 fights into his UFC profession

It didn’t take long for Conor McGregor to make a splash on the largest stage in mixed martial arts.

The Irishman enjoyed a rapid rise within the UFC, culminating in him becoming the promotion’s first-ever simultaneous double champion.

That achievement cemented McGregor as the game’s biggest star, but he can be amongst essentially the most polarizing and controversial.

‘The Notorious’ has never shied away from trash talk and assured predictions. His habit of correct foresights early in his profession created the ‘Mystic Mac’ moniker, and Demetrious Johnson compared his self-belief to that of a few all-time boxing greats.

Max Holloway puts Conor McGregor number 4 in UFC Featherweight champion rankings

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Demetrious Johnson called Conor McGregor a ‘young Muhammad Ali’ 12 years before UFC 329

McGregor will fight Max Holloway at UFC 329 this Saturday, because the Dublin native returns to motion for the primary time in five years.

The continued fight week in Las Vegas has brought with it a few of the usual McGregor self-belief, as he placed himself atop the GOAT list and called the likes of Holloway and Alexander Volkanovski ‘not on his level’.

When he was an up-and-comer, the Irishman kept proving himself right together with his performances. It took just three wins for the best flyweight in MMA history to even compare that McGregor habit to each Mike Tyson and Muhammad Ali.

“I actually, truly appreciate Conor McGregor’s style — his fighting style and the way in which he talks,” Johnson said on The MMA Hour ahead of the Irishman’s first fight against Dustin Poirier in 2014.

“The rationale why is because he jogs my memory of a young Mike Tyson, a young Muhammad Ali, the way in which he talks.

“I take a look at him and I don’t see him talking trash. I take a look at him and I see him talking (about) what he sees, where he’s like, ‘Dude, I’m way faster, I move way higher than you do, you’re slow, I’m going to hit you hard,’ which, I imagine all this stuff that he says are true.

“I imagine that his fighting style is nice, he understands fighting, and never taking anything away from Dustin Poirier — Dustin Poirier is a large test — I can appreciate someone who can talk that stuff and he’ll go in there and he’ll back it up,” he concluded.

On the time of Johnson’s comments, McGregor had beaten Marcus Brimage, Holloway, and Diego Brandao within the UFC. He subsequently knocked out Poirier in lower than two minutes.

‘The Notorious’ was crowned champion for the primary time lower than a 12 months later by claiming the interim featherweight title. He went on to gather each the undisputed 145- and 155-pound belts.

Currently, the Irishman has only one win since his lightweight title win in 2016. He’ll hope to vary that statistic by adding a second victory over Holloway to his record at UFC 329 on July 11.