Psychological warfare can also be an art and has existed since time began. It may not seem in the sporting spirit, but it is an important (albeit rude and disrespectful) element of ruthless professional wrestling. After all, anyone can break someone’s jaw with a good punch or fracture a tibia with a nasty kick, but to excel at this particular brand of one-upmanship requires some talent. Irish MMA Champion Conor McGregor has proven that he has it. We have compiled some of the rhetorical devices, what one might call the ‘arsenal of verbal weapons’, used by McGregor to demoralise his opponents and to pump up both himself and the audience before a fight. Be warned, strong language is used!
Round 1: first we have the false apology with A TWIST:
“I just like to say from the bottom of my heart, I’d like to take this chance to apologise… to absolutely nobody! The double champ does what the f*** he wants!”
Round 2: a THREAT DISGUISED as a WARNING TO SET THE TONE:
“Don’t blink, I’m coming out the gate fast. I’m coming out the gate fast!”
Round 3: good old condescension:
“When you sign to fight me, it’s a celebration. You ring back home, you ring your wife. ‘Baby, we’ve done it. We’re rich, baby. Conor McGregor made us rich. Break out the red panties.’
Round 4: the rhetorical question:
“Who else is there like me in the game? Ever, in the history of the game?
Round 5: an appeal to patriotic pride and old customs to make a point:
“We are the Irish, we love to fight.”
Round 6: the deductive argument:
“The main thing to succeed in this game is to either be me or to fight me. Everything else is peanuts.”
Round 7: the logical truth:
“People are always saying about the talk and I talk and I talk and I talk, but guess fucking what? I back it up! I back it up!”
Round 8: the sociological observation:
“Winners focus on winning. Losers
focus on winners.”
Round 9: false modesty:
“I am cocky in prediction. I am confident in preparation, but
I am always humble in victory or defeat.
And finally, round 10: the hyperbole.
“Make no mistake, I’m setting up to be the greatest of all time. I am working towards it and I will go down as the greatest of all time. Is it really 2015 the year of the goat?
It was meant to be.