UFC fighter McGregor facing ten month lay-off
From the high of his first UFC victory on American soil last Saturday to the low of a serious knee injury - Dublin Conor McGregor has gone through a range of emotions in the last week.
McGregor made waves Stateside with his unanimous decision over Max Holloway at the UFC Fight Night 26 Prelims in Boston, but the knee injury he suffered during the second round of the featherweight bout is set to keep him out action for up to ten months.
The 25-year-old's MRI scan revealed 'a complete anterior cruciate ligament tear, a medial collateral ligament strain and a posterior horn meniscal tear', with the news broken by UFC President Dana White to Fox Sports Live last night.
Tweeting his reaction, McGregor said: "I celebrate adversity. Congratulations. Your favourite fighter is safe. For 10 months. #AintNothing I'll do it on my back. EASY!!!!"
The injury lay-off robs McGregor of the momentum built up by his first two UFC wins, including that stunning knockout of Marcus Brimage in his April debut in Sweden.
McGregor's camp had been eyeing up a shot at Diego Brandao at UFC 168 in Las Vegas on December 28. Brandao was winner of 'The Ultimate Fighter 14', but the Irish MMA star clearly has no regard for reputations.
On Wednesday he tweeted his damning opinions of some potential future opponents in the octagon, including current featherweight champion Jose Aldo whom he branded 'safe'.
He views the number one-ranked Chad Mendes and third-ranked Frankie Edgar as 'bantamweights', while 'nobody cares' about number 2 Ricardo Lamas, Cub Swanson and Dennis Siver are both 'old' and Clay Guida and Nik Lentz are both 'boring'.
Dustin Poirier was amusingly labelled 'Peahead' by McGregor, who put a question mark beside the tenth-ranked Erik Koch who has won 13 of his 15 MMA fights to date.
McGregor's lively personality and Irish charm, coupled with his exciting skills in the octagon, have certainly shaken up the weight division in a short space of time and garnered him a growing fan base.
Notably, of the fighters mentioned, only Aldo, Edgar and Guida have more Twitter followers than UFC newcomer McGregor (over 55,000).
