The rise of featherweight contender Conor McGregor has encouraged some of his fellow Irish fighter to follow suit and test their mettle in the Octagon. Among the bunch, nobody stands out heads and shoulders above the rest than McGregor conqueror Joseph Duffy who is dubbed as the next rising Irish star of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, or UFC.

Duffy is finally making his transition to the UFC and will star in his first fight against Jake “The Librarian” Lindsey at UFC 185 in Dallas, Texas this Saturday. He is renowned for conquering a then-younger McGregor in 2010 when he won through a rear naked choke later in the match after being heavily cut early by the power punching “Notorious.” Despite this, Duffy admits that his fellow Irishman has already grown leaps and bounds and is already ahead of him in the UFC.

“I have got an opponent in Jake Lindsey on Saturday night, so I’m just going to concentrate on him. I’m going to take it one step at a time. Conor is obviously further ahead than me in his UFC career. I’m just going to go at my own pace,” Duffy recently told MMA Junkie.

McGregor, with his charisma and piling victories, has been dubbed as the next big thing in the MMA scene. This early in his career, he has already leapfrogged other contenders and after his brutal conquest of Dennis Siver in UFC Fight Night in Boston, he has been rewarded with a title match with reigning UFC featherweight king Jose Aldo.

Duffy, on the other hand is just beginning to transition to the United States scene after years of honing his talent in Europe. The Donegal native admits that while the accolade of being named as the one who placed a dent on McGregor’s resume is flattering he just does not want to be remembered in such manner. He aims to place a gold belt around his waist and be aligned along the sports’ all-time greats. All in all, Duffy is hoping that his four-week training stint in Montreal with top coaches Firas Zahabi and Eric O’Keefe will work wonders for the upcoming fight at the American Airlines Center this weekend.

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