UFC Lightweight Champion Conor McGregor makes his professional boxing debut this coming Saturday against Floyd Mayweather.
McGregor didn’t give much away during that open workout and according to UFC personality Dan Hardy, it was the right move for the MMA fighter to take.
“I think people have to step into Conor’s shoes,” Hardy said on The MMA Hour. “If you were a couple of weeks out from the biggest fight of your career and you’re fighting a masterful boxer, you’ve got to think that you’re working out on the bag with him standing next to you. What are you going to do? You’re not going to want to look like a beast in the gym. You’re not going to have a crazy workout. You’re not going to show all of your tactics and all of your best moves — you’re not even going to have your hands up.”
Much like the UFC Lightweight Champion, the potentially returning Hardy has no professional boxing experience as well.
Hardy also believes that all McGregor wanted to do during his open workout was to simply put on a show.
“The stuff he was doing was flamboyant, it was bravado and it was show. It’s exactly what you’d expect from an open workout,” he said. “You’ve got to think that Floyd Mayweather is in the same room because for damn sure, he’s going to watch it. Why would you show anything? I certainly wouldn’t. Do capoeira, do whatever you want to do, as long as you don’t show what you’re going to do.”
Conor McGregor versus Floyd Mayweather takes place on Saturday, August 26 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, with a post-show podcast to follow.
