Tyson Fury might be facing a lot of haters when he said that MMA is just for those don’t know how to box. But for a boxer who cringes at the idea that there’s a heavyweight MMA champ who is on the same level as him in terms of being a combat fighter, it looks like Fury is giving huge attention to the MMA sport.
Fury, however, is thinking maybe it’s actually the other way around, which means that MMA fighters in the sport are observing and watching him instead. According to the pro-boxer, no one is more obvious of this than UFC interim champion, Conor McGregor.
“I am familiar with a man named Conor McGregor. I think he copied me in everything he does. I was the first trash talker – big time – in these shores, first one in Ireland. Then all of a sudden, he started copying me, this Conor McGregor guy,” Fury said during a recent interview with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour.
Fury further said that there were a lot more things that he did which McGregor also copied later on.
“I grew a big beard. He grew a big beard. I talk bulls–t about everybody, he starts talking bulls–t about everybody. And it worked for the heavyweight champ of the world. It must work for Conor McGregor, some guy who’s like 140 pounds or whatever is,” Fury added.
What’s interesting though, is that even though he pointed out these things on McGregor, he revealed that he is actually a fan of the MMA interim champ.
“No, I am a fan of his. He’s copied my style. I better admire him for it,” Fury said.
And after seeing that McGregor has picked off his style, Fury says that it somehow draws him to watch the MMA interim champ inside the cage.
For someone who admitted that he is not a fan of MMA, watching McGregor is not an easy thing to do though.
“I’ve never met him, but the guy is a very entertaining character. Conor McGregor got me actually physically watching MMA and wanted to check the results. Because the way he was carrying on, I thought, ‘This guy has definitely got a bit of me self in this guy. I want to check him out’. I saw the fight with the Mendes guy, the interim champion and I will be watching the Aldo fight because he’s got a lot to say, hasn’t he?,” Fury said.
Fury also said that McGregor’s career achievements and his upcoming fight with reigning champion, Jose Aldo, are somehow similar to his. Fury won over long-reigning champion, Wladimir Klitschko.
“It’s a bit like my fight with Klitschko. Aldo was the reigning champion for many years, [McGregor]’s a young kid on the block coming up shouting his mouth off. Some people say he’s a pretender, some people say he’s the real deal. Klitschko was the long-reigning champion on the block, I was a guy some people said was a pretender, some people think I can fight, some people think I can fight. So, it’s very, very much similarity between me and Conor McGregor. I’m living proof that it can be done. I beat Klitschko, he can beat Jose Aldo. Why not? For sure,” Fury said.