Conor McGregor will hit the three-year mark of inactivity this July since his last fight in 2021. Many wonder if this break signals the end of his MMA career, with retirement rumors swirling. Despite the speculation, the former ‘Champ Champ’ isn’t calling it quits just yet. He recently credited boxing icon Mike Tyson for helping him develop such a mentality.

Mike Tyson is making his return to boxing this year against YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul. The duo will square off on the 20th of July, and the fight will be streaming live on Netflix. The fight has garnered the interest of the entire combat sports community, including Conor McGregor, who made an honest confession regarding ‘Iron’.

Mike Tyson has been Conor McGregor’s inspiration recently

Conor McGregor was not only surprised when he heard about Mike Tyson fighting Jake Paul in the summer of this year, but he also mentioned ‘Iron’s fight against Roy Jones Jr. in 2020. During an exclusive interview with ‘TNT Sports‘, he said, “Look at Tyson. Mike Tyson now is fighting Jake Paul, right? He’s fighting him, again, he fought Roy Jones also.  There you go. That an old, that guy.”

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Furthermore, when Mike Tyson fought Roy Jones Jr., the latter was also in his 40s and wasn’t as young as most professional boxers are. That was something that caught Conor McGregor’s undivided attention. “When he fighting Roy Jones Jr. was something that really stuck out to me… Roy Jones also an aged guy,” the former double champion added.

McGregor also revealed the decision to continue fighting came after something that Tyson said when he was asked about his former coach, Cus D’Amato.

The former UFC champion reveals the real reason for Tyson’s boxing return

‘The Notorious’ revealed that the real reason behind Mike Tyson’s boxing return was to see what the competition during the point of his return was like. There is a lot of competition out there and Conor McGregor doesn’t think that he will ever stop fighting until he really feels down and out. He further stated, “Why? It’s [to] recalibrate your competition… So I don’t really feel like I could ever call a day until I’m laid out flat and that’s it in a box… that’s when I would call it a day.”

Coming back to drawing inspiration from Mike Tyson, Conor McGregor opened up on why ‘Iron’ motivated him to continue fighting. Following the fight against Roy Jones Jr., the 57-year-old boxing icon was asked an important question relating to Cus D’Amato.

McGregor added, “Something that really struck me with Mike Tyson was that he was asked in an interview around the Roy Jones Jr. fight… ‘What would Cus D’Amato say to you after all these years? Why come back now?’ And what Tyson said really struck me. He said, ‘What Cus would say to is what took you so long?'”

Mike Tyson may have had a brash attitude when he was in his younger years being the ferocious fighter he was, but he had been able to inspire many fighters of the current generation. It was evident when someone of Conor McGregor’s stature admitted to having drawn motivation to continue his MMA career because of ‘Iron’.

What do you make of McGregor’s confession? Drop your comments below.

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