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Conor McGregor steps up his preparation at the UFC Performance Institute ahead of Floyd Mayweather fight

The Irishman has been training in an altitude chamber and braving a sub zero cryogenic tank at the UFC's state of the art Performance Institute in Las Vegas

Luke Brown
Wednesday 19 July 2017 11:17 BST
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McGregor is stepping up his fight preparation
McGregor is stepping up his fight preparation

Conor McGregor has stepped up his training regime ahead of his professional boxing debut against Floyd Mayweather, with the big-money blockbuster fight now less than six weeks away.

The Irishman has spent this week training at the UFC Performance Institute, as he seeks to fine-tune his fitness levels before August 26. This will be McGregor’s first fight comprised of twelve three-minute rounds, as UFC fights last for a maximum of either 15 or 25-minutes, depending on whether or not they are Championship bouts.

McGregor took to social media to share a series of photographs of him working out at the Institute, beginning with a series of exercises in the altitude chambers, aimed at improving his aerobic fitness.

He then headed to the underwater treadmill, with the resistance of the water helping him to gradually build up his endurance. Hydroworx, who manufacture the treadmill, claim it is "revolutionizing physical therapy, sports medicine and conditioning".

McGregor then shared some photographs of him getting back to business, and working out on a heavy bag at the Institute’s purpose-built gym.

The UFC Performance Institute is a brand new, state-of-the-art facility which only opened last month. The 30,000 square-feet building cost over $14m to make and is located at the UFC campus, in Las Vegas.

The UFC claim the Performance Institute is “efficiently designed to deliver a holistic integrated performance service portfolio,” and it is available for any of the promotion’s fighters to use free of charge.

McGregor shared the pictures after his management team were this week forced to deny claims that he had been knocked out in a sparring session.

The rumour mill went into overdrive on Monday when former two-weight world champion Jessie Vargas gave a video interview with Villainfy Media, in which he said that McGregor has been knocked out by the MMA fighter Bradley Wheeler.

However, it was soon reported that McGregor’s management team have insisted the claim is not true.

Floyd Mayweather v Conor McGregor: Trash talk in 60 seconds

“The guy mentioned by Jessie Vargas is Brandon Rios, not Brad Wheeler,” the newspaper reports.

“Neither have sparred with Conor.”

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