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Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, twin brother of the much more successful and famous Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.
They both became revered in MMA from the start as high-level BJJ/ground fighters, standup being in no way their bread and butter.
In the course of their MMA training, they made multiple trips to Cuba to train with the Cuban boxing team.
This lead to Nogueira winning a gold medal at the 2006 South American Championships at Superheavyweight, and a silver medal at the 2007 Pan American championships, losing in the final to the Cuban.
The case of Nogueira demonstrates, among other things, the difference between pro and amateur.
A high-level MMA fighter is not the equivalent to an amateur athlete (the exception being athletes like the Cubans, who are effectively pros).
Access to all of the tools of a pro athlete alone inevitably raises a fighter's potential substantially.
Also, people keep saying that McGregor is trying to cram years of training into a few months.
The truth is, McGregor has been boxing since he was 12. He's 29.
He's from Dublin, a boxing city.
Boxing is his base, though he became a pro MMA fighter at age 18.
Being trained in boxing isn't the same as having fights, let alone professional fights.
McGregor is still a considerable underdog.
However, he is in his prime--Floyd is old and retired--and there is grounds to believe he is already above the level of a lot of amateurs.
My initial reaction to this fight was it's ****** and McGregor has no chance; I'm somewhat more apathetic about it now; but I do think the above is valid, and includes aspects being overlooked by many so-called experts.
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