Conor McGregor has been branded "delusional" after declaring he will compete at a rare fourth weight class by moving up to middleweight later in his career.
The legendary former two-weight world champion is most famous for his title wins at featherweight and lightweight, but has already competed three times at welterweight. He plans to stay up at 170lb for his return to the octagon, but told fans on social media this weekend that he is going to move up to middleweight.
McGregor is just 5'9", which makes him a relatively small welterweight, and would class him as a tiny middleweight. And fellow fighter Renato Moicano, who competes in the Irishman's former lightweight division, tweeted in a thinly-veiled response: "Middleweight… Imagine being that delusional."
The former two-weight champion tweeted that he would move up to middleweight while watching last weekend's UFC event, which was headlined by Sean Strickland vs Jared Cannonier. "I'd be a big fridge at middleweight," he wrote. "But hot like oven same time, you know yourself, catch it on PPV. Don't know though. It be hard work. Those rounds against those middle/light-heavyweights, they were alternating fresh each round I've put in psycho work doing this job over the years."
McGregor also shared footage from his camp for when he fought Donald Cerrone in January of 2020, in which he claims to be sparring a light-heavyweight. He lands solid shots in the video, particularly a big punch combination that sends his sparring partner back a few steps as well as a head kick.
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The Irishman is currently recovering from a broken leg that he suffered in his trilogy fight against Dustin Poirier which has kept him out for 18 months. He is now seemingly back to nearly full fitness, and reckons that he will begin looking to book a fight after returning to USADA drug testing in February.
McGregor tipped the scales at 156lb for that trilogy bout with Poirier, and is believed to be around 40lb heavier now after working on his upper body while unable to do much with his broken leg. He never stopped training despite the gruesome nature of his injury, and at times looks unrecognisable as a considerably bigger man.
The former two-weight champion recently made his film debut, working alongside Jake Gyllenhaal in the remake of Road House, which will be released on Amazon Prime next year. And he is now fully focused on finishing his recovery and getting back to fighting, first at welterweight and then at middleweight towards the end of his career.
