For more from the 2016 Body Issue, check out espn.com/bodyissue! And pick up a copy on newsstands starting July 8.Retiring early? Not so much. MMA fighter Conor McGregor is definitely still swinging. On the set of his Body Issue photo shoot in May, McGregor sat down with Kenny Mayne and talked about getting into the ring with Floyd Mayweather, fighting hungry and his strong Irish genes.I dreamt every day of making it as a fighter, every damn day. Sitting on in the car park, on my lunch break, early mornings. I always visualized climbing the ladder of the fight game and reaching the pinnacle.My unpredictability is what separates me. I move in many ways. If you move in so many ways, your opponent is not focused on what hes doing. Hes focusing on what youre doing and it freezes him. When they freeze and you hit, they shatter like glass.Verbal warfare is another form of warfare, so I look to engage in that 100 percent. Its just part of the game. Its part of the business. You beat him verbally, you beat him mentally and then finally you beat him physically. Thats the three ways to beat a man.If I only had to focus on boxing, hell, Id be neck and neck with Floyd right now. Im in the game of spinning plates. Im spinning a boxing plate. Im spinning a taekwondo plate. Im spinning a jiujitsu plate. Im spinning a freestyle wrestling plate. Im spinning a karate plate. There are so many spinning plates in this game. If I was to put all of them down and have one boxing plate spinning, it would be like a load off my shoulders.Many people who practice in only one discipline of fighting are lying to themselves. You cant fight fully. Its limited. Its not the full circle. Youre afraid of everything else. Youre just doing this one single thing. But we practice in everything.I am forever, forever learning. I think in the last fight [against Nate Diaz in March], I mismanaged my weight. I was working with my nutritionist for the lightweight title fight to make 155 pounds. I was on track. Nine days out from the fight, Im in phenomenal condition, and then the weight got changed [to 170] and all of a sudden Im 10 pounds below and Im like, I dont need this diet because I need to eat up to the weight. So I threw that out. I disengaged from that. I started eating two steaks a day, two breakfasts. Id have a coffee and some cookies with that, please, also. Id be in the gym six to eight hours on fight week. Ive got bags of energy. I can do this all day. But it came back and bit me in the ass. My body went into shock. I overtrained and then mismanaged the weight, and it came back to bite me on the ass.When Im cutting weight, I kind of baby myself to preserve energy to make the weight and to be energetic in the fight. But this fight I didnt even have to make weight. In fact, I was stuffing my face. I was heavier around the midsection. I wasnt as lean as I usually am, so my performance was hindered. My gas tank gave in. I had to take a very honest look at what I was doing with my preparation, so I have done that. Ive brought in people specifically to monitor my cardiovascular. Im doing something a little bit differently. So everything is a lesson and everything is a blessing.I entered that last fight full. I was full in every sense. My plate was full, my belly was full. Thats not why we fight. We originally fight for food, to eat. We fight hungry. The birth of fighting is to eat. So Im happy with the lessons learned. I feel like my gut has been emptied again, like I am hungry again.There aint many people going up 25 pounds to fight on the drop of a hat, in nine days. I rocked up to 170 [for the Diaz fight in March]. Never fought at 170 in my life. I rocked up no problem. I slapped the head off of him for nine minutes of that fight. Look at his face. I busted him up. With the correct tank, the correct approach, Im going to cakewalk this next one if we can get to that point.When the tank goes, its done. When you go past that line, no amount of skill can save you. There is no coming back from it in a fight.I have a sweet tooth. But my nutrition is another thing that Ive become obsessed with lately. Right now Im following a strict nutrition plan, and I eat on the clock. My body is feeling good. Its not depleting me, because again, if I get the fight Im looking for, it will still be up a weight. Its still the challenge Im seeking.It was quiet during the struggle. Everything else is noise. I find that the struggle is peaceful and beautifully quiet. Whereas everyone wants to be involved in success, very, very few want to be involved in the struggle. So Im enjoying the quiet and the peace in the struggle right now.This is a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately business. And Im cool with that.You grow up where Im from, you must learn how to defend yourself as a young man. I was no different. I got into it to learn how to fight, and thats why I walked into my first combat gym.Im just a kid that defied the odds. Im just a kid that ignored the doubt. Im just a kid from a little place in Dublin, Ireland, that went all the way, and Im going to continue to go all the way.The left paw has done me well over the years. Im not a scientist, Im a martial artist. I did do one of those sport science things where they measured the time and my reaction. But all of that really means nothing in there. I think timing is the key -- surprise and timing. If you can master those two, you dont necessarily need brute force to put a man down. You place the correct shot at the correct time, you will put a man down.Right now, Im focusing on my skills, because the skills is what pays the bills. Im also focused on my cardiovascular training. But you know, ask me tomorrow and it will be something else Ill become obsessed with. Im just looking to learn, grow, stay focused and become a better fighter and a better athlete.I tell you what, them Irish genes are good. Theyve served me well. We are made tough. We are made of steel. So I have no doubt the blood in my genes, the Irish blood in me has definitely stood me. My familys lineage, we are warriors. The McGregor clan, we are warriors all through. We are famous all through the world for our fighting capabilities of all generations. So I have no doubt thats stood to me and that led me down this path and gave me what I have. Custom Sports Jerseys . -- San Francisco 49ers linebacker Ahmad Brooks was fined $15,570 by the NFL on Wednesday for his hit on Saints quarterback Drew Brees last Sunday. Michael Jordan Jersey Throwback . Ouellette, from Montreal, already has three Olympic gold medals since joining the team in 1999. https://www.sportsstarsjerseys.com/michael-jordan-jersey/ . Westbrook has missed 27 games since having a procedure on Dec. 27 to deal with swelling in his injured right knee — the third operation on the knee in nine months. Womens Michael Jordan Jersey . The showiest items on Calgarys lot were forwards Mike Cammalleri and Lee Stempniak. Both will be unrestricted free agents this summer. Tom Brady Jersey Super Bowl . Sulaiman, 44, was chosen unanimously Tuesday in a vote by the leadership, the World Boxing Council said. Sulaiman becomes the sixth president of the organization. Embattled Australian Rugby League Commission chairman John Grant has ruled out standing down over this deteriorating relationship with NRL clubs.Disgruntled clubs have called an emergency general meeting in a bid to oust Grant amid failed discussions on their disputed funding.An emergency general meeting pencilled in for December 20 will test the support of the chairman, with clubs requiring a minimum 14 votes to remove him.Grant on Tuesday denied his position was untenable, indicating he would stay in the position ahead of the meeting as he attempts to bring the 16 clubs back to negotiation table.Will I step down? Its not being considered at the moment, Grant told reporters on the Gold Coast on Tuesday.Grants seven fellow directors have unanimously thrown their support behind their boss.He re-iterated his reasons for reneging on a funding model agreed to last year, citing the need to fund the grassroots, womens game, participation and digital exposure.My job is to make sure that this game prospers, he said.Part of that is for the clubs to prosper, but the other part is for us to make sure we get the funds back into the grassroots.Grant was confident clubs would accept his positiion.dddddddddddd They return to the negotiating table sometime this week.We have all the information. Were able to see a position that we think they will see as well, he said.We all need to focus on the future. We need to stop personalising it.We need to start thinking about the game and our clubs. In fact, theres an obligation with the chairs of clubs to do the right thing by their clubs.Funding is short.Grant declined to comment on whether he could get the numbers to survive a vote on his position, something that appears unlikely currently despite seven fellow ARLC directors offering their support on Tuesday.It is highly disappointing that they (clubs) have taken this course of action given Johns unwavering commitment to the game over the last five years, the commissioners said.Johns appointment as inaugural chair recognised his qualities as a successful business man, who as a former Kangaroo, was ideally suited to take the game forward.He has since undertaken his role without bias and with the best interests of the game as his priority at all times. ' ' '