‘Hungry, Motivated Conor McGregor A Scary Dude,’ Says Striking Coach

Owen Roddy has been with Conor McGregor through it all.

And despite some feeling that maybe the two were on the outs, Roddy claims that is entirely not true.

McGregor returns to the Octagon at UFC 246 on January 18 when he faces Donald Cerrone in the main event at welterweight. The bout will serve as his first action since losing to UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov in 2018.

For Roddy, the sight of seeing “Notorious” working on a planned, structured training schedule is a delight.

“I think it’s great seeing Conor back enjoying what he’s doing, that’s the more important thing for me, for everybody and for Conor,” Roddy said during a recent appearance on MMA Fighting’s Eurobash podcast. “He’s enjoying it. After sorting everything out, he’s back doing what he loves to do.

“I think when you start to see some footage of him training, he starts to do his interviews and he starts building the fight, you’re going to see the old Conor back. I can see that already. When people see that, they’re going to say, ‘That’s the Conor we fell in love with.’ He has that hunger again, A hungry, dedicated and motivated Conor McGregor is a scary dude.”

Owen Roddy Joins Eurobash Podcast To Talk Conor McGregor

From his debut with the UFC in 2013 through his title-unification win over Jose Aldo in 2015, McGregor was untouchable. He dominated current UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway in 2013, finished Diego Brandao, Dustin Poirier, Dennis Siver and Chad Mendes between 2014-15.

At UFC 194, in just 13 seconds, he knocked out Aldo to become the unified featherweight champion. After splitting two bouts at welterweight with Nate Diaz in 2016, he knocked out Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205 to claim the lightweight belt.

“We’re training at 11 and 7 every day,” Roddy said. “We’re doing strength and conditioning, whether it’s in the morning or evening, and then doing a technical session and it’s perfect.

“You can see he’s reaping the benefits and rewards already from that. As I said, he’s been working on his strength and conditioning for a while before he even came into this camp, so now we’re not spending half the camp trying to get in shape or anything like that. Now, he’s in tip-top shape and now we’re just focusing on the game plan – coming up with a good game plan and going in and executing it.”