Richie Lewis describes 'loyal' Conor McGregor as training partner

Conor McGregor is as loyal as they come with his team, according to Richie Lewis. Lewis, a former wrestler at Rutgers University and U23 World Champion, transitioned to MMA and is a rising prospect.

Lewis recently trained with McGregor and his team, even during the filming of The Ultimate Fighter. In what could be a year for his UFC debut, Lewis did more than just train with McGregor over the last few months.

He joined The Champ and The Tramp Podcast with former UFC champion Frankie Edgar and Roger Mathews to talk McGregor.

“It’s awesome man,” Lewis said. “He’s a very good guy, took very good care of me and what you see is what you get. He’s the same guy that you see on TV. He’s loyal and I was pleasantly surprised with how welcoming he was.”

Lewis was brought into McGregor’s camp for his wrestling prowess. He was a regular Top 12 wrestler at 165 pounds during his final year at Rutgers and the highlight of his career was when he won a World Championship.

“I did,” Lewis said of helping McGregor with his wrestling. “But so I was there, I was also a coach on The Ultimate Fighter. I taught the practices. I went out (there) more as a training partner. I maybe did like four or five sessions over the month that I was out there. 

“It was wild because he brought me out to the gym with him and I trained with him. We trained a decent amount, but he was teaching me a lot.”

McGregor is tentatively scheduled to fight Michael Chandler at the conclusion of The Ultimate Fighter. However, nothing is signed yet.

If the former two-weight champ does return, Lewis could very well be in the Irishman’s camp as he prepares for his potential UFC debut later this year.

“Their mindset is just different, the Irish guys,” Lewis said. “Ian Garry’s one of my teammates. Paul Hughes, the Cage Warriors champion, he’s about to make his debut pretty soon. Just being around those guys is a little bit different, how they think, how they react and like, how they draw guys in and just their mindset of the sport is a lot different than Americans. Just like the Russian style is different. 

“So you learn kind of a whole different concept about the sport. It’s a whole different concept of confidence.”

It’s clear Lewis could be a part of McGregor’s latter stage of his career while he begins his UFC quest. Seems to be a mutually beneficial partnership.

Lewis went 49-13 during his career at Rutgers and was a Round of 12 finisher at the 2018 NCAA Tournament. Currently, Lewis is 4-0 in his pro MMA career with wins in the Titan FC and LFA promotions.