Former light heavyweight champion and TUF 1 winner Forrest Griffin believes that Irish MMA frontrunner ‘The Notorious’ Conor McGregor is a “genius” after seeing his promotional mind at work in the lead up to his clash at UFC 189.

Comparing the featherweight challenger to the likes of Brock Lesnar, Chael Sonnen and Rashad Evans, Griffin insists that McGregor is top of the pile when it comes to his skills on the microphone. The 2013 inductee even claimed that had he seen McGregor’s antics in Dublin earlier in his career it might have changed his whole approach to promoting fights.

“Conor is a genius,” said Griffin speaking from Krakow on the tenth anniversary of his epic TUF finale bout with Stephan Bonnar. “He’s made a point of breaking down the media as a separate discipline to the fight game. I wish I had of heard that little clip of him talking at the Dublin media day ten years ago. I had a good handle on the media but I was myself too much.

“I didn’t always put my best foot forward. If I was having a bad day it was clear to everyone that I was having a bad day. Sometimes people don’t want to hear if you’ve had a hectic morning, they just want to hear about the fight.

“I think he does a way better job of that than anyone else and I think eventually people will start to realize that. I saw Brock Lesnar doing his kind of shtick, I saw Chael Sonnen doing his shtick and I saw Rashad Evans do his thing as well, but it didn’t click for me until I saw Conor do it. Now I get it, and it’s worked brilliantly.”

And his praise for McGregor didn’t stop at his marketing machismo as Griffin insisted that his money was on McGregor with the Irish featherweight set to meet Jose Aldo on July 10 in Las Vegas.

“I am drinking the green Kool-Aid on this one man, I think Conor will beat Aldo, It must be my Irish roots,” he laughed.

@PetesyCarroll