Owen Roddy: Win over Donald Cerrone at 170 could lead to Jorge Masvidal vs. Conor McGregor

Conor McGregor laid out a three-stage plan for his MMA return at recent press conference in Russia, and his striking coach Owen Roddy believes that “The Notorious” will honor the route following his bout with Donald Cerrone in the main event of UFC 246 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Jan. 18.

McGregor insisted that he would return in January, then face the winner of the BMF title fight [Jorge Masvidal] before setting up a rematch with Khabib Nurmagomedov in November.

According to SBG Charlestown head coach Roddy, that is still the plan that McGregor has in the pipeline for 2020.

“That’s the plan,” Roddy told MMA Fighting’s Eurobash podcast.

“That’s what he wants to do and there’s one thing I always say: when Conor says he wants to do something, if anyone is going to do it, he can. But, let’s not look past Cerrone. He’s a tricky opponent and he’s a veteran with tricks up his sleeve. But Conor going in there the way he looks now, he should do well.”

McGregor suffered a defeat to Nate Diaz and his last outing at welterweight but Roddy believes the Irishman will look a lot more like the man who went five rounds with Diaz at UFC 202.

“Looking at the second fight with Nate Diaz fight, that’s what you’re going to see,” Roddy said.

“It’s that Conor. He’s been at this weight for awhile. He’s used to training at this weight; grappling and sparring, running and doing the miles. His body knows how to move that weight around now and he knows how to move it around quickly. There’s no killing himself to make weight and there’s no limit calories in the last three weeks of camp trying to get down to weight…that’s gone. Now, he’s just focusing on his training, doing what he’s doing, looking at his opponent and breaking him down and dismantling him in the fight.”

Owen Roddy joins the latest episode of Eurobash. His interview begins at 42:00.