Gunnar Nelson is a man who is close to Conor McGregor. He trains alongside him in Ireland, and sometimes Iceland, he was on the coaching staff of ‘Team McGregor’ on this current season of TUF and he is also preparing to fight at UFC 194, a card headlined by McGregor.
McGregor has said he likes to keep his circle small and it would be safe to assume that Gunnar Nelson is in that circle. Being that close to McGregor means that his thoughts and opinions hold more weight than others. The welterweight appeared on Submission Radio and the topic of McGregor’s weight cut brought up. Nelson explained his thoughts and said that McGregor won’t be doing it much longer.
“Yea, he does a big cut,” Nelson told Submission Radio (as transcribed by MMAFighting.com). “He doesn’t like it and I don’t think he’s going to do it much longer. I think he’s going to move up. I think he wants to move up. I don’t blame it. I wouldn’t be able to this cut too many times. It definitely takes it out of you. There’s no doubt.
“He has a lot of energy and he’ll toughen through it and fight really well even though he does that cut. I just think, looking ahead, this isn’t good for your health. I don’t think he should do it many more times and I’ve told him that. That’s my opinion.”
Alan’s Angle: McGregor himself has admitted that the cut is tough and he won’t be staying at featherweight for long. However it seems to be a foregone conclusion to many that if he beats Aldo he will still have to fight Mendes, Edgar and there could also be a possible rematch with Aldo and then you have Max Holloway on the horizon. The reality is that if all these fights were to happen McGregor would be at featherweight for the next 24 months and that is not going to happen.
However what is more likely to happen is that win or lose at UFC 194 McGregor will step back up to lightweight. His status, regardless of the result against Aldo, will likely mean he skips the long line in that division and will either fight for the title straight away or compete in a number one contender fight. If he just so happens to beat Aldo then he could jump back and forth between the two divisions whenever a big money fight presents itself.