As soon as Conor McGregor made it big people looked to his record and focused on the last man who beat him which just so happened to be another high level Irish fighter by the name of Joe Duffy.
When Duffy switched back to MMA from a budding and undefeated stint in boxing and performed immensely in Cage Warriors the UFC then decided to snap up the man who is universally known as ‘The Last Man Who Beat Conor McGregor.’ And since he joined the promotion there has always been the question of whether the two will square off and finally have a rematch.
During a media day lunch McGregor was asked about Duffy and he didn’t hold back any punches:
“I’d love to see [Joe] Duffy climb that rank. Do I think he has it in him? I don’t. I think he is a journeyman. When I look at his career, he lost his Cage Warriors lightweight title, the title that I won, he was submitted in the fourth round and he filled his shit with excuses. He had a sore hand or he had this, he quit the sport, he moved country, he changed teams. He was ‘Welsh Joe’, then he was ‘London Joe’, then he was ‘Canadian Joe’ and then he sees my success and now all of a sudden he is ‘Irish Joe.’ I would love to see him climb up and I will KO him stiff just for the way this has all planned out. But I see him as a journeyman and I don’t see him making that climb.”
After wishing Duffy the best of luck at UFC Dublin against Dustin Poirier he resumed speaking his mind about Duffy’s path.
“He loses the Cage Warriors lightweight belt and quits the sport, blames a broken hand, moves country, changes teams, changes sport and then sees my success and my hard work. When I faced defeat I put my head down and I grind it and I rose up to be a two weight world champion in Cage Warriors and a UFC featherweight world champion. When he faced defeat he quit the sport and ran. And then he sees my success and my hard work and my dedication he decides to shave a shamrock in his head and call himself ‘Irish Joe’ and come back. I definitely have my eyes on aul Joe. We’ll see how he goes but I would love nothing more than to KO him stiff and put him in the ground or send him back to his other sport that he ran too after he lost.”
You can watch the full media video below (skip to 45:00 for the Duffy talk)
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