Helen Maroulis of the United States poses for a photo with her gold medal on the Today show set on Copacabana Beach on August 19, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Photo : Getty Images/Harry How)
UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor has time to spare and recent reports have it that he spent some time with Helen Maroulis in Dublin. Maroulis, the first wrestler to win a gold medal at the 2016 Rio Olympic games, is contemplating on an MMA career and the experience could help.
McGregor and Maroulis wrestled for 45 minutes, aware that it will take more than her wrestling expertise to be successful in the MMA niche. “If I could punch, I would love to do it one day. Obviously, you need other skills besides just wrestling,”, Maroulis said in a telephone interview with NBC Sports.
Helen Maroulis got in touch with John Kavanagh and eventually flew to Dublin from Oslo. She took some jiu-jitsu and Muay Thai classes which seemed to have impressed coaches. In short, they believe the Olympian had what it takes to become a fighter.
Assuming that Maroulis does make the MMA jump, it may not come earlier than 2020. She plans to wrestle once more in the 2020 Olympics and likely decide from there.
On her meeting with McGregor, it was something that caught her by surprise. Aware of the busy schedule “The Notorious”, she got a treat when Kavanagh was able to arrange the meeting. McGregor showed her some of the basic MMA stuff, TMZ reported. She even shared her meeting with the Irishman on Instagram.
A photo posted by Helen Maroulis (@helen_maroulis) on Jan 17, 2017 at 1:41pm PST
McGregor impressed Maroulis whom she described as slick and moves really, really well. The whole experience may factor in but the Olympian will likely focus on wrestling for now. She will reportedly wrestle in a competition in Ukraine this March, competing at a heavier 58 kg category. A win by Maroulis could allow her to qualify for the world championships that will be held in Paris in August. If so, she may get the chance to face Japanese legend Kaori Icho – the first women in any sport to win an individual event gold medal in four Olympics.
The 25-year-old Maroulis has a lot planned ahead but a move to the mixed martial arts scene may be years off. Check out the video below showing her narrating the Conor McGregor experience.
