It looks like Conor McGregor will have a hard time trying to affect Joseph Duffy with his mind games.
The UFC Dublin headliner kept tight-lipped at the recent UFC GO BIG event while McGregor relentlessly tore him apart, claiming he wasn’t really Irish.
Duffy appeared on the MMA Hour on Monday and explained that he didn’t feel the need to speak up at the event and that McGregor’s words mean very little to him.
“Conor’s opinion doesn’t really mean a lot. None of that stuff really bothers me. He talks a lot back and forth but that’s not really my style.”
Some technical issues meant that the Donegal native’s interview was delayed a while,but when he returned he reiterated that talking smack about other fighters just isn’t his style.
“It’s just not really my style. I’m not too bothered what Conor’s thoughts are on things. I said to myself , I’m not gong to really gain anything from a trash-talk exchange.”
On the 300th episode of the MMA Hour, McGregor called Duffy’s nationality into question again. He said that he didn’t know what nationality Duffy should identify with, and cited three SBG fighters, Paddy Holohan, Aisling Daly and Cathal Pendred as what he saw as the real main events of UFC Dublin.
Duffy addressed these comments, but reaffirmed how little he values McGregor’s opinion on the matter.
“Nothing Conor says can get under my skin. If it was someone I cared about like my family saying something like this, then yeah maybe, but Conor’s opinion doesn’t matter to me. He can say what he wants, but it doesn’t change the way I would fight him. It doesn’t change the fact that I still feel I would beat him.”
There is some history between Duffy and McGregor. Duffy submitted the Notorious with a sublime arm-triangle just 38-seconds into their bout in the European promotion Cage Warriors. He is the last ever fighter to defeat McGregor inside the cage, and should a rematch happen, Duffy is confident that the result will be exactly the same.
“I believe I can take Conor out just as quickly. Everyone knows Conor is greatly improved, but so am I. Everything Conor does I feel I can beat him at. Now he’s doing more kicks, I’ve been doing taekwondo since I was five. There’s not an area I feel he can beat me.”
With comments like these, we might not have to wait for what would undoubtedly be the biggest all-Irish MMA fight of all time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkjwIZhT5hg
