Conor McGregor has been warned that he might want to avoid Mike Tyson's "risky" advice to compete in warm-up fights when he returns from injury.
The Irishman insists that he wants to be straight into welterweight title contention when he comes back to the Octagon, but the legendary former heavyweight champion boxer thinks he should slow it down. Ex-UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping, on the other hand, fears that if McGregor were to lose to a lower-ranked opponent, he could struggle to return.
Once a two-division world champion, McGregor has struggled to consistently make fights happen through injuries and coronavirus restrictions. But he is still one of the biggest names in all of combat sport, and has been called out by most of the lightweight and welterweight divisions, meaning he will have his pick of fights when he comes back.
"I'll never be one to argue with Iron Mike, but I don't think Conor McGregor needs any help with his confidence," Bisping joked during a recent YouTube video. "I'll just start with that.
"I understand what Mike's talking about, of course, you lose a fight, a couple of fights, three of your last four, and the last fight you had you snap your leg which was a gruesome injury you're taking time away from the octagon. Then the narrative that perhaps you should have a tune-up fight makes sense, we see that in boxing a lot.
"However, the circumstances with McGregor right now, it’s a risky one. Tyson said have two or three fights before you go into a big fight like that. There’s risk and there is reward. If McGregor goes in there against a lower-ranked guy, fights that he should win, let's be honest, you never know. These are tough guys and we don't know if McGregor is on the slide.
"Certainly the form isn't what it was at one stage. If he goes into a tune-up fight, there's no gimmes and there’s no guarantees in the fight game and if he loses to them, then it’s even worse if he was to go in against the champ, Charles Oliveira.
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"You go up against the champ Charles Oliveira, you get beat, oh well, so what? No big deal. Everybody’s losing to him right now. Charles Oliveira is the man. However, if he loses to someone ranked down the pecking order, ranked six, seven, something like that, now it’s a very different conversation that’s taking place."
Tyson was speaking with ex-UFC double champion and long-time McGregor rival Henry Cejudo on The Fight Card podcast when he made the claim that he should take a tune-up fight. McGregor last won in January 2020, and it will have been over a year since his last bout when he returns from injury.
"You get your experience down, three more fights, you feel good," Tyson explained. "The last two guys are really qualified opponents, now you go back out there. I'm a strong believer that after a defeat you should do a couple of fights to get your feet wet. Conor, I think you should build your confidence up and go do what you do, win excitingly.”
