Renowned MMA striking coach outlines Conor McGregor’s path to victory against Mayweather

On August 26, UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor will battle the undefeated Floyd Mayweather in a boxing match. For all the Irishman’s talent as a mixed martial artist, he is not believed to have much of a chance in this bout, given the gulf of boxing experience between himself and Mayweather.

Yet according to Mike Winkeljohn, who serves as the striking coach at Jackson’s MMA, arguably the best camp in MMA, McGregor has a chance.

Winkeljohn detailed a possible path to a McGregor win in a recent interview with ESPN (h/t MMAJunkie.com).

“Floyd is going to go into his shell and hold his shoulder high. You can’t do that in MMA and you can’t do that in a street situation, but in boxing it’s a beautiful thing.

He has a god-given knack of not getting hit and using his defensive ability so well. Conor’s got the power, though. I think Conor is a big, strong fighter who has speed and is a little slicker. What Conor can bring to the table is maybe some offline angles with his footwork that comes out of MMA and will be something Floyd might not be used to. Attack where Floyd can’t hide behind his shoulder.

We’re going to know one way or the other right away. Conor comes with a game plan of attacking Floyd in a way he has never seen before. Once it fails, or I should say “if” it fails, then it will fall into a traditional boxing match, which obviously favors Floyd. I’ll tell you what, though, Conor’s got a smart camp, and they’re going to come up with something. It might be worth putting some money on Conor as the underdog.”

What do you think of this assessment from the striking mastermind Mike Winkeljohn? Is a Conor McGregor win possible?

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 7/20/2017.