Brewing with braggadocio, McGregor makes it clear from the start that he is an alpha-male, and superior to all others when it comes to his MMA talents. In a recent article in The Wall Street Journal, he also made it clear that he may be insane when it comes to the fight game. “I’m so lost in it that I can’t imagine anything else,” said the Dubliner. “Like Vincent Van Gogh. He lost his mind in his game. I have lost my mind also. But I am happy with that. I feel to reach the high pinnacle in anything you do, you must almost become insane to what you are doing.”
Just how insane the 27-year-old is we may never know, but when it comes to the ability to self promote, it’s clear to see that McGregor is in a class of his own. His recent sparring session with strongman Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson, aka The Mountain from Game of Thrones—is just one example of how willing he is to keep himself in the headlines and give both his followers and detractors something to talk about.
“He’s a fascinating character,” says UFC president Dana White. “He’s like nothing we’ve ever seen. Not only in calling the rounds in which he will win, but the mental warfare. He’s the best at mental warfare and pushing buttons and getting in your head and winning a big piece of the fight before the fight even happens.”
In McGregor’s mind, he is already the pound-for-pound king in UFC. When he fights Jose Aldo, who has not tasted defeat in over a decade, this weekend in Las Vegas in the main event at UFC 194, the world will find out if there is method in his madness or not.
