Conor McGregor will have to overcome the mental hurdle of coming back from a gruesome injury.
McGregor (22-6 MMA, 10-4 UFC) broke his leg in a TKO loss to Dustin Poirier in July 2021 and hasn’t competed since. After five years away, he returns against Max Holloway (27-9 MMA, 23-9 UFC) in the UFC 329 main event on July 11 from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas (Paramount+).
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The likes of Anderson Silva and Chris Weidman were never quite the same when they came back from their broken legs, but McGregor has prepared himself for all outcomes.
“Now as I’ve become a lot more experienced in the game, I actually work backward toward the perfect scenario,” McGregor told “Mac Energy” (h/t Championship Rounds). “I have had a limb break inside the octagon, so now I must have an answer to that. I have the perfect scenario: You knock them out with the big backhand, the crowd roars. But then I have the worst-case scenario: The shoulder dislocates midway through the first round. What’s my mechanisms? The lead shoulder dislocates in the first round. What’s my movements? What’s my reactions? Do I switch the stance? Do I go to my back?
“I have a whole selection of responses to the worst-case scenarios – not that I sit and dwell on them, or overthink them, but I just have them. So if the ankle goes, if the knee goes, if the shoulder goes, what’s my response? Because the fight’s not over. If you give, it’s over. If you have a maneuver, you can outlast and you can survive in there and then get toward the victory. I have found as I have gotten more experience in the fight game to work my way backwards from the worst-case scenario, to the best-case scenario, and then focus and prepare for the best-case scenario. That’s where I’m at right now, so I have every situation that may occur and my answers to it.”
Former UFC dual-champion McGregor is a big underdog against Holloway. They will compete at welterweight after their first fight in August 2013 took place at featherweight, which McGregor won by unanimous decision.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Conor McGregor opens up on mental adjustments after leg break return
