There may be some questionable characters inside the world of MMA, but there are also some good guys too. Neil Magny seems to be the embodiment of this sentiment, as he proved recently.
For years Magny has been one of the best welterweights in the world. He has a strange style that is nearly impossible to look against, even if you do win, and it has helped him beat many foes.
Over the course of his eight years in the UFC, Neil has earned some sneaky good wins over the likes of Kelvin Gastelum, Carlos Condit, and Robbie Lawler. Now he is primed for an upcoming main event bout against Michael Chiesa.
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Neil Magny Helped Out An Opponent
While Neil Magny may be tough to fight inside the Octagon, he is an easy-going guy outside of fighting. Speaking in a recent interview, he was asked about what types of things get under his skin.
For the most part, Neil says that he is a pretty level headed guy, especially when it comes to competing in the Octagon. In fact, he even told a story about noticing that his opponent was dehydrated before a fight, so he helped the man get something to drink.
“Even going into a fight, I don’t have to hate my opponent in order to do well,” Magny said.
“For me its all about the mindset of outworking my opponent and physically and mentally breaking them that kind of motivates me. So to me, there’s no animosity for my opponent heading into the cage.
“I can remember one fight a couple years ago, where me and opponent were pulled from the locker room and we had to go backstage to do our drug test.
“I’m looking at this guy and he’s like laying on the floor, just struggling to pee, and in my mind, I’m like ‘Huh, this guy is dehydrated.'”
“This is like a couple hours before we were supposed to go out there and fight,” Magny explained. “Most people are like ‘Ah, screw you. I’m going to fight you in a couple hours, I want you to be miserable.’
“I decided hey you know what, this guy’s dehydrated, he has to take this pee test before he can go back to his locker room and warm up, let me go get him some water and gatorade, that way he can hurry up and get hydrated and get back to his locker room to do his thing.
“That’s the kind of person I am. I don’t need any animosity against the guy in order to do well against him. I don’t need to hate him, I just know what I’m capable of.”
🔊 "I don't have to hate my opponent to do well," @NeilMagny tells the story of helping an opponent hydrate before fighting him. 💪@RJcliffordMMA @lionheartasmith pic.twitter.com/MMm4uethMX
— MMA on SiriusXM (@MMAonSiriusXM) January 6, 2021
That is an incredible gesture of kindness from Neil Magny, to say the very least. Most people would not care about the man they will be fighting in a few hours, but if Neil is going to beat a guy, he wants to beat them at their best.
There is a lot to respect about this sentiment, and his mindset towards fighting. Maybe he can help Michael Cheese get some water before their main event bout on January 20th.
