Legendary trainer Rafael Cordeiro has confidently claimed that nearly any UFC lightweight could easily defeat megastar Conor McGregor.
Brazil’s Rafael Cordeiro has notably trained fighters such as UFC champions Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua, Anderson Silva, Lyoto Machida, Rafael Dos Anjos, and Fabricio Werdum, among many others during his time at the Chute Boxe Academy and Kings MMA gym.
Rafael Cordeiro not picking Conor McGregor to win
In an interview with MMA Fighting, Cordeiro explained that fighters want to fight Conor McGregor just for the money, he said:
“There’s Arman [Tsarukyan], a super tough kid. There’s [Mateusz] Gamrot, [Dustin] Poirier, [Justin] Gaethje. A lot of people. [Rafael] Fiziev, super tough guy. Those are names that, f***, I’d much rather watch them fight than Conor. And everybody fights [Conor McGregor] now for what he represents. He’s lost that challenge thing, ‘I wanna fight Conor because he’s tough and knocks everybody out.’ No, it has gotten to a point where people couldn’t care less for that. ‘I wanna fight this guy because he generates good money.’ That’s what they worry about.”
He continued:
“People worry more about those top-15 guys than Conor now, to tell you the truth. These top-15 guys today, they’d all swallow Conor. Nothing against Conor, but, unfortunately, the time away, the leg surgery, the [lack of] motivation, the money, the drinking, looking swollen of booze — he’s living life like crazy, so you lose the interest a little bit. He’s doing The Ultimate Fighter now, the Conor show, but where’s the guy in the mountains, training quietly? That’s the champion. When you have media ahead of everything else you automatically lose a bit of the hunger, I think.” [Transcript courtesy of MMA Fighting]
Rafael Cordeiro will be coaching Beneil Dariush in his upcoming match against the former division king Charles Oliveira. Meanwhile, Conor McGregor just finished coaching a season of The Ultimate Fighter against Michael Chandler. The fight will take place at welterweight sometime later this year.
