Pretty big compliment
Nobody knows how to promote a fight like an old professional wrestling legend and former WWE commentator Jim Ross reckons Conor McGregor is already well on the way to becoming the total package, describing him as the 'perfect heel', a wrestling term for a charismatic fighter the crowd love to hate.
Ahead of the Dubliner's UFC featherweight title bout with Jose Aldo at next month's UFC 189 event in Las Vegas, 'Good ol' JR' hailed the way McGregor has used his personality to become one of the sport'a biggest names.
'McGregor has talked his way into becoming a star and he's been really smart,' Ross said on his podcast, The Ross Report. 'They've just got to keep exploiting his mouth.
'Half the audience is going to be cheering him frantically and the other half is going to cheer, frantically, that he gets his ass beat. He is a perfect heel.'
Ross also believes McGregor's ability to talk himself up will ensure that even if he gets beaten by Aldo he remains a big draw for the UFC in the future.
'He's going to have a lot of people there paying to see him get his mouth shut, and the great thing about him is, if he loses, and it won't surprise me if he does lose because Aldo ain't no slouch, McGregor is the type of guy who can talk his heat back because he'll just piss off the next guy he fights and add a sense of urgency that he has to get back in the title picture.'
'UFC is in a no-lose with this deal. If Aldo loses, and it's the first fight he loses in forever, he's going to get a rematch sooner than later, in a stadium and that's gonna make a lot of money.'
