My legacy already set in stone, insists Conor McGregor

Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal had him pride of place in their sports section, a stirring image spread across five columns of the topless Irishman screaming to his adoring masses.

Flying into the US for Conor McGregor fight weeks usually offers quick reminders of just how mainstream the crown price of the fighting world has become.

Tuesday was different however. For a start, the screaming half-naked sportsman was not the Notorious one...but Scott Evans.

Ireland’s leading man of badminton gained his own kind of notoriety in Rio de Janeiro, becoming a sensation for his action on and more so off the court with the Olympics stands jammed with Irish fans mimicking their man.

That’s probably the extent of the crossover between this unlikely sporting pairing but Evans’ prominence was a signifier that the lead-up to UFC 202 would be a very different McGregor fight week. There were soon more. The golden lion that stands in the lobby of the MGM Grand is always encased in a miniature UFC octagon for fight weeks with hordes of visiting fans thronging to the spot for a selfie-athon. On Wednesday morning there were a few people pitched up at the cage adorned with the faces of McGregor and bitter rival Nate Diaz. But they were instead leaning on it, looking the other way and watching the Olympic diving on the huge screens above the hotel check-in.

It’s been that kind of week in Las Vegas - different.

The most glaring difference between McGregor’s three most recent visits to the desert and this is the huge drop-off in travelling supporters. Three trips to Sin City since last July have clearly punctured the pockets of McGregor fans, also stung by this rematch being scratched from its original date in July.

Ticketmaster showed there was still plenty of availability in the arena on the eve of fight night.

A lot has changed since McGregor had his undefeated record choked out of him by Diaz in March, a stunning upset of the pre-fight odds that also sucked all sorts of hype from the Notorious bandwagon. In the meantime the tragic death of Joao Carvalho shrouded McGregor’s team and Irish MMA in darkness. He then proceeded to get involved in a messy squabble with UFC chiefs and threatened to walk away altogether.

He didn’t. He’s back and again fighting two rungs up from the featherweight division in which he is the champion. But things are still frosty between employee and employer. Fighting a successive non-title bout, and bidding to wipe cleaner, but not clear, the record smudged in March, McGregor has been a spiky figure all fight week.

“My legacy is set in stone,” insisted the 28-year-old when asked about the potential of another defeat in tonight’s main event rematch at the T-Mobile Arena. “It was set in stone when Jose crumbled in 13 seconds. This is just something else, outside of it. This is just a straight fight. I’m happy with that because that’s what I came here for.”

He’s likely to get that straight fight - and more - from Diaz.

The Californian hardman was summoned from the beach on just two weeks notice in March before he turned the MMA world upside down. This time round he’s coming into the fight off a full camp and looked particularly primed at Friday morning’s weigh-ins.

Before Wednesday’s press conference descended into chaos and prior to McGregor’s belated arrival on stage, Diaz insisted he’s in much better shape this time round, before pouring scorn on his rival’s prediction of a second-round knockout.

“I’m a mixed martial artist. I always train hard to be in the best shape I can be in - in and out of season,” said the 31-year-old. He remembers what happened in the last fight.”

There has been little escaping that suspicion - McGregor remembers all too well and has very much got Diaz and his elder brother Nick on the brain. The apparent master of the MMA mind games, to this observer at least, isn’t winning this one. And that’s important.

Gray Maynard, the only man to have previously climbed into the cage with Diaz for a second and then a third time, spoke recently of just how grinding an experience it can be to spend so much time up close with the gnarled veteran from the less than salubrious surrounds of Stockon.

“Our second fight, I got prepare with a whole camp of just, ‘look man, I’ve got to be in it at all times’,” said Maynard, who won his own rematch before losing a rubber fight. “Like, if [Diaz] talks, talk back to him. If he punches, punch back. If he tries to take you down, try to take him down. Being prepared to beat Diaz is a lot of just being able to kind of match his game, and that’s all mental.”

McGregor has spent over $300,000 on a gruelling and intense pre-fight camp here in Nevada, promising to right all that went wrong last time round, in spite of so many of the parameters remaining the same - and in Diaz’s favour.

After a very contrary fight week, for the sake of the next phase of his journey, McGregor will hoping most of all that the outcome is, too, different.