“It’s definitely the beginning of a life-changing opportunity,” Lewis explained. “This is what I’ve prepared my life for. They called me a bunch to actually be on The Ultimate Fighter, but I want to create my own path and I have a much better path that I’ll unveil pretty soon. Obviously, we’re working together on it with my team.”
For five weeks, Richie thought he was to be flown out to help with wrestling and act as another body in the room. Little did he know when he got there, he would be a much bigger piece of the training room and Conor would view him as much more than just a skilled wrestler who could give him the grappling rounds needed to sharpen up his wrestling.
Conor didn’t view Lewis as just another training partner. Conor would help Lewis almost as much as Lewis was sent out to help him.
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“I was there the first week training with Conor and it was kind of like, ‘Whoa. You’re ready right now.’ They weren’t expecting me to be at the level I was,” Lewis laughed. “They weren’t ready for it but then we were rock-solid partners and I think you’re going to see me do a lot more stuff with Conor. I trained a lot with his coaches. We did a lot of sparring, obviously. I thought I was going to be doing a lot of the helping, but it turned out Conor was helping me a bunch. He showed me a bunch of stuff and it was an opportunity of growth for myself. Of course, I showed him some throws and stuff, and some wrestling.”
You hear it all the time that it’s never safe to meet your idols because, more often than not, you’ll be disappointed. Lewis assures anybody who looks up to McGregor that he’s the last person who will let you down. Even with all of the superstardom and fame that could go to his head, McGregor treats everybody like he’s still just a scrappy kid in Ireland.
“I got to see the real side of Conor and I got to see that he’s a really good guy,” Lewis said. “He’s a really good dude. He’s humble, he takes care of his people and I hope I can continue to work with him. That’s all I can wish and that’s all I can ask for.”
