Conor McGregor training partner Peter Queally says this weekend's Bellator clash with former SBG stablemate Myles Price is personal after Price's decision to travel to the US to help Khabib Nurmagomedov train to face the Irishman.
Queally's showdown with Price in the co-main event of Bellator's return to the Irish capital on Saturday has been hailed as the best 'All-Ireland' MMA bout in history and, as is often the case with the sport's more heated contests, this one has more than a little animosity behind it.
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Price is a former teammate of both McGregor and Queally at John Kavanagh's SBG Ireland gym in the center of Dublin, though his tenure in the world famous facility is now over, in part due to Price's decision to travel to the United States to train at San Jose's American Kickboxing Academy, where he spent time helping Khabib Nurmagomedov prepare to face McGregor at UFC 229 back in October.
Price now represents Dublin's Team Ryano, a gym which has produced UFC veterans Neil Seery and Paul Redmond.
Time, they say, heals all wounds but Queally certainly isn't letting sleeping dogs lie when it comes to Price's perceived treachery in assisting the Russian fighter ahead of his blockbuster world title fight with McGregor.
"To paint the picture of this weekend’s fight, Ireland’s biggest sportsman was preparing for the biggest fight of his career," Queally explained this week of his motivation ahead of the Bellator 217 co-main.
"Myles Price, an Irishman who is a former teammate of Conor, spent his own money to travel 5,000 miles to go help his opponent. That’s why this fight is happening. He’s a rat, that’s why this fight is happening."
Queally very much lived up to his 'Showstopper' moniker in his last fight. In the main event of Fight Nights Global 87 from Rostov-on-Don in May of last year, Queally needed just under four minutes to beat top contender David Khachatryan, who at that point boasted a 24-3 record and had never been finished.
A lightweight title shot appeared next for the Irish fighter, though financial difficulties experienced by the FNG promotion eventually ended in Queally's release from the organization, after which he was quickly snapped up by Bellator to help lead their current European expansion.
His debut under his new employment couldn't have much higher stakes associated with it, though Queally says that even if there are emotions connected to this fight he won't let that affect him when the first bell rings in front of a sold-out crowd of 13,000.
"This one feels like a much bigger fight because it’s here," Queally says of his most high profile fight on home soil.
"There’s a bigger emotional story attached to this fight, where there was no story attached to the Khachatryan one - it was just two animals coming together in a big fight. This fight is two good fighters coming together to fight but there’s an emotional investment in this fight."
"This one was very easy to train for. I know why I’m fighting him. I’ve never fought someone like this when there is an emotional investment, it’s always just been some random guy who I have no animosity towards. With Myles, we do know each other. I’ve never had anything against Myles until now. I wouldn’t consider him a friend or anything, we were never very close. The preparation wasn’t different. It was the same sh*t, but it was easier to get up in the morning."
It can sometimes be an odd feeling to fight someone with whom you have spent countless hours on the mats in training, though Queally says that he isn't allowing any familiarity with Price to cloud his emotions.
"I don’t give a shit about him, he’s just a body to me now. There will be no emotion on the night, I’m going to go in and kill him and that’s it."
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