Stephen Thompson shared his experience working with Conor McGregor on The Ultimate Fighter.
‘The Notorious’ is coaching season 31 of TUF alongside his future opponent Michael Chandler. ‘Wonderboy’ was recently seen as a temporary coach helping out the former two-division UFC champion. Now that he’s done working with McGregor, the karate specialist joined Submission Radio to discuss the experience and what’s next for him.
During the interview, Thompson had this to say about McGregor being different when cameras are on:
“He’s a showman, for sure… On and off-screen he’s very nice, but it’s just something that switches. It’s really cool to see, his voice amps up, he looks like 20 pounds bigger whenever the camera is on. It’s funny ‘cause we took a picture together, I don’t know if you saw that picture, he looks bigger than I am, but I’m actually bigger than him… He knows how to like inch forward, make himself look bigger. It’s pretty cool to watch, I would never think of that, but you know, that’s his persona. He carries it very well.”
Although Thompson revealed some of McGregor’s tricks, he ensured the Dublin native was fun to work with. ‘The Notorious’ didn’t become the richest MMA fighter of all time for no reason, so hearing ‘Wonderboy’ discusses his camera skills isn’t shocking. The question is, how good of a coach is the former two-division UFC champion?
Watch Submission Radio’s interview with Stephen Thompson below:
Stephen Thompson discusses Conor McGregor as a coach
When Conor McGregor was announced as a coach for TUF 31, there were concerns about his reasoning for accepting the position. Although it’s a good marketing opportunity, contestants on the show are looking to evolve and need guidance from the coaches. Luckily, ‘The Notorious’ is fully committed to helping them improve.
During the same interview with Submission Radio, Stephen Thompson praised McGregor’s coaching abilities by saying:
“He’s a great coach and cares a lot about his guys. He cares a lot about his guys and that’s fun to watch and see because that’s what I do for a living… I’ve seen a lot of guys teach and you realize real quick that they don’t care about it. I always tell people this, when it comes to teaching, people don’t really care how much you know. They only wanna know how much you care and that was kinda Conor the whole time. He cared about his guys.”
McGregor last fought in July 2021, losing against Dustin Poirier for the second consecutive time. Since then, the 34-year-old has been recovering from a severe leg injury suffered against Poirier. Now that he’s fully recovered, ‘The Notorious’ plans to fight Michael Chandler once he’s cleared by USADA.
