Conor McGregor has turned back time as he looks to get the better of Donald Cerrone in UFC 246 on January 19.
The UFC superstar has recruited Irish amateur boxing legend Phil Sutcliffe, his first-ever coach.
Nearly twenty years ago, when McGregor was only 12 years of age, he joined the Crumlin Amateur Boxing Club, his first-ever gym.
Headed up by Sutcliffe, it was here where the two first met and where McGregor has gone back to for inspiration, employing his former tutor as he returns to the cage.
He is a man of great experience having competed at two Olympics.
Turning 60 towards the end of last year, he won four national titles in his homeland and also earned two bronze medals at successive European Championships in Germany in the late seventies.
His son, Phil Jnr, is also a boxer and so Sutcliffe is no stranger to nurturing talent.
While McGregor ditched boxing for MMA at the age of 16, despite winning youth tournaments inside the ring, he will now use his fighting experience as he looks to KO Cerrone.
The 'Notorious' will meet ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone on Saturday at the Octagon for the first time since his defeat to Khabib Nurmagomedov in 2018.
Sutcliffe has been impressed with his protege ahead of the bout and told TheMacLife: "I've never seen him before any fight, I've seen him on the TV, but speaking to him on a regular basis now his persona, his attitude has gone through the roof.
"He's so confident, he's so happy, the camp has been great. One of the lads said it's the best camp they've been on.
"So the little bit of boxing that's been brought in, hopefully, it's given it that little bit of culture, a little bit of razzmatazz, showbusiness - which it is, right?
"We can go into the show business, I'm used to it when it's boxing but there's very little difference in the build-up to a big boxing fight and this fight.
"Everyone is calm, it's cool, everything is going great for Conor, he has a great bunch of guys there, two fantastic coaches, his coaching team between all the boys that's there we're all gelling together."
McGregor is in confident mood and is only thinking about the here and now.
“Everyone always says ‘I want to get the old Conor back’ - but that’s the past. Focus on the present,” he said on the UFC 246 Countdown show.
“Boy am I hitting hard, I am sitting down on shots. And I’m going to hurt Donald.
“Right now I’m in a phenomenal place and I’m going to go in and put him away.”
