Conor McGregor 'got a great laugh' from improvised ballot paper

Irish UFC champion Conor McGregor has talked about a possible flirtation with Hollywood and perhaps even Leinster House.

By Joe Callaghan

UFC champion Conor McGregor has talked about a possible flirtation with Hollywood and perhaps even Leinster House.

One voter in the Dublin West constituency went viral during last weekend's General Election when they made the Notorious one their write-in candidate.

"I got a great laugh when someone put my name in for it," said McGregor.

"I would love to do something to help my people but I wouldn't go into it as a publicity type thing.

"Some people have done that, your man, whatever his name is. If you can't truly help the people, then I wouldn't do it.

"That's down the line maybe."

Having spent all of 13 seconds in the Las Vegas octagon in the space of almost eight months, McGregor said he would like to have a little more time to enjoy his environment next time round.

That next time comes to the capital city of fighting will be on Saturday night when the UFC phenomenon takes on Nate Diaz.

McGregor insisted that while he would love to see the hastily arranged headline bout of UFC 196 take some time to develop, he isn't confident that his opponent has the resolve to make that happen.

"I'd love to see it play out a little longer, so I can show the fans the improvement I didn't get to show in that last fight because it was over so quickly," he said of the rapid KO of kingpin Jose Aldo Jr in December that earned him the outright featherweight world title.

"But I just can't [Diaz] him taking the shots.

He's going to feel a new level of precision, a new level of power and a new level of unorthodox fighting that he's never experienced before.

"I hope he'll last until the end of the first but I don't see it.

"I think it's going to be really, really evident on Saturday night. I think the speed difference is going to be evident.

"You'll see for yourself what I mean by stuck in the mud when me and Nate fight.

"I came hunting for him. He's trying to say people are afraid to fight him.

"I hunted him down, stalked him, and now I have him trapped on Saturday."

The Dubliner was speaking on his return to the Strip and his first outing of UFC 196 fight week yesterday when he took part in a public workout in front of throngs of supporters, an impressive crowd for a midweek Wednesday in early March.

With no title on the line at the MGM Grand on Saturday night - original opponent and lightweight champion Rafael Dos Anjos pulled out with a broken foot - numbers were expected to be down.

As is his style, McGregor will do his best to ensure they stay up.

"Look at this," he said as the fans continued to make a racket behind him.

"This is always history. every damn time.

"The gates keep rising, the pay-per-view keeps rising, the attendance. Everything keeps rising.

"It's always history when I step inside that octagon.

"I've two belts at home - I've the interim and the unified featherweight and I've the featherweight and lightweight world titles I won in the previous organisation.

"There's belts everywhere with me. I'm seriously considering making my own damn belt.

"And then I'll decide what weight the flight is at.

"Why not? Who cares about the belts. [I'm] the money fight. This is the fight everyone wants.

"They should be chasing for it, knocking everyone out of their way to get to it. Not crying and complaining and saying 'I'm going to wait'."

Saturday marks McGregor's bow at welterweight, the 27-year-old jumping two rungs on the divisional ladder in the space of three months.

The effects of the move from 145lbs to 170lbs were all too evident as the Notorious one got down to some rigorous grappling, striking and movement work with his support team.

"I'm under the [170lbs] weight [limit]. I'm waking up at 168, I'm waking up under weight. I have two breakfasts and then I'm on weight," he said.

"There's no strain man. I'm chilling. I'm living good. I'm eating better, I'm dressing better.

"This is just another day. I'm 27 and I'm at the very, very top, with no one even close."

Diaz, meantime, was in decidedly more civil form than last week when - among other things - he accused McGregor of being on steroids.

It does, however, rankle that a man he considers a copycat will now be responsible for his biggest career pay day.

"The way that he's been saying he's the money fight. I've been saying that forever too but the [UFC] got wind of that and they tried to shut me up," said the veteran Californian.

"They told me to keep that 'big money fight' shit on the low, so they kind of tried to keep me on the low and then when he said it, it's his new thing.

"As far as mixed martial arts and who the real fighter is and the big fights, I've already been talking about that since before he was in the UFC.

"Now he's like this new guy with all this new stuff and everybody's pushing it."