Conor McGregor's SBG training partner Peter Queally believes that he has a new lease of life ahead of his blockbuster UFC return in January.
McGregor is expected to return to the octagon at UFC 246 on January 18th to face American veteran Donald 'Cowboy' Cerrone in Las Vegas.
Queally is preparing to fight Brent Primus in the co-main event of Bellator Dublin on February 22nd next year, but has been heavily involved in the 31-year-old's training camp ahead of the return.
"He does seem reinvigorated after his time off," Queally told the Irish Mirror.
"He does seem happy to be training, but he's always been happy to be training as well.
"Conor's Conor so he loves fighting and no matter how rich he gets - he'll always just want to fight. That something that I saw when he got incredibly rich.
"You think: 'Will he just sail off into the sunset now?' but he doesn't and this is what we all do. We all get paid well and it's great, but you can't do this sport and this profession unless you actually enjoy it.
"You have to have kind of a deep hunger to repeat and actually fight if you want to continue to be involved in this sport and he has that and will never lose that.
"It's just great to see him back and it does add a great morale boost to the gym and the camp, and my own camp when he's on the mats training".
'The Showstopper' Queally reckons that it's a newly devised route to UFC redemption that has led to McGregor's fresh mentality as he plots a return to the top after defeat to lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Queally added: "He has almost a season in his mind and a mentality that this is the path back.
"He's not just saying 'I want to fight this guy and that's it'. He sees this step and then this step.
"It's healthy to have goals like this and maybe that is helping as well - but he doesn't need any help".
But Queally's main focus remains setting up a fight with Bellator lightweight king Patricio 'Pitbull' Freire, and he says he will back himself against American Primus in February to do just that.
"I've known about a week, it only got signed on Sunday night I believe.
"I'm just going to march forward, have faith in my chin, smash his faith in and that's it. I always have unwavering faith in my chin.
"I've never been knocked out, never been hurt or nothing. Brent's a very good fighter, but I don't believe he's that kind of fighter that can hurt me to be honest in that regard."
Tickets for Bellator Dublin are on sale now through Ticketmaster.ie and Bellator.com , as well as the 3Arena box office.
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