image via: twitter

Conor McGregor took over Madison Square Garden on Friday night and he wasn’t even fighting. He was on hand to walk fellow Irishman, Michael Conlan, who was a star at the Olympics last year, down to the ring. Before the fight, McGregor walked around ringside saying hello to writers he knew but when he got to Dan Rafael of ESPN, he didn’t seem to know who he was. Conor said hello anyway but Rafael jokingly shouted that he didn’t know him because he didn’t cover MMA. “I’m the boxing guy” Rafael said. Those words stuck with Conor the rest of the night.

Immediately after Conlan’s fight ended, Conor ran right over to Rafael and got in his face.

McGregor got right in my face and started shouting: “You’re the boxing guy?!!!”

I calmly responded, “I’m the boxing guy.”

And then McGregor went off, though I never felt threatened. My take was that he was doing this with a bit of a twinkle in his eye. But he continued.

“I’m the boxing guy! Watch me take over boxing, trust me on that,” he yelled directly at me, only a few inches from my face. “No one in this boxing game knows what’s coming. Trust me on that.”

“I’m going to step in there and shock the whole god damned world. Trust me on that,” McGregor hollered at me. “Look me in the eyes, 28 years of age, confident as a m—–f—–, long, rangy, dangerous with every hand. Trust me, I’m going to stop Floyd, and you’re all going to eat your words. The whole world is going to eat their words.”

Conor eventually stormed off and that was the end of that. Before leaving the arena completely, he did stop and talk with the Los Angeles Times. That was when he said he wants the fight to happen in September.

“I’m ready to box. I’ve been ready for a long time. The game’s going to be in shock when I step in the ring. Trust me on that,” McGregor said.

“[September] is what I’m thinking. That’s what the word is. That’s what we’re close to doing. I’ve tried to talk to Floyd. I flew to Las Vegas to have talks with Floyd and then he retired. He just doesn’t want to see me. He’s petrified. Wouldn’t you be? No one knows what to expect with me, and they shouldn’t. Because I don’t know what to expect either.”

We reported last week that Floyd was aiming for a June date for the fight but that seems far fetched at best. September makes much more sense to have more time to get things done to make it happen and have both fighters in great shape.

All of this is still just talk and promotion for now because with all this media hype recently, we are still no closer to any deals actually being signed off on. If the fight ever does happen, don’t expect to see much of a good match because its obvious Floyd will be able to do whatever he wants in the ring against Conor but it will definitely be the biggest thing to ever happen in the sport.

Written by @IamJoeSports