In the lead-up to his marquee boxing match against undefeated Floyd Mayweather on Aug. 26, Conor McGregor is utilizing a new, tech-laden training facility at UFC’s campus in Las Vegas.
The UFC Performance Institute, which opened in May, offers mixed martial arts fighters like McGregor a space to use innovative fitness solutions in their training for major fights. The 30,000-square-foot training center is free to all of UFC’s banner fighters and includes rooms for cryotherapy, physical therapy, saunas, hot and cold plunges, and an indoor/outdoor track. Those are just the standard amenities.
McGregor has been taking full advantage, it appears, of the more custom technologies available at the UFC complex. One, the Hypoxic Lab, allows McGregor to use Hypoxico’s altitude training to increase his endurance through sprints on a stationary bike. Above his shoulder, as seen in the Instagram post, is the air vent that gives the athlete an effect of hypoxia, or a lack of oxygen availability to the body.
Hypoxico claims that the science of hypoxia training allows athletes to condition their breathing abilities and oxygen storage for better performance and speedier recovery at both high and low extreme altitudes.
In addition to increasing his endurance by working in the hypoxic lab, McGregor has also been using technology from HydroWorx, which manufactures a pool-based training system that includes an underwater treadmill. The resistive and buoyant properties of water force the body to work harder without adding undue stress to the joints, HydroWorx’s Mike McHugh explained to the Independent.
“By training in a HydroWorx, it allows athletes to get a high-intensity workout and maintain cardiovascular endurance in a low-impact environment,” McHugh told the Independent. “The UFC is a movement sport, it’s a cardiovascular sport where strength and power is important. The underwater treadmill gives McGregor the ability to move in all directions just as he would in a competitive situation, but without the significant joint impact that he would experience performing similar movements on land.”
McHugh added that the underwater treadmill can reach speeds of 16 kilometers per hour (close to 10 miles per hour) with jets for added resistance.
McGregor also has been utilizing the cryotherapy chamber to recover at sub-zero temperatures, displayed in another Instagram post, where he is shown in a room frozen to -278 degrees Fahrenheit:
While McGregor has the ability to train with these different technologies, he can also walk to the performance center’s second floor to practice his craft in a traditional fighting octagon or boxing ring, both outfitted with cameras that provide motion-capture analysis.
All in all, the training center cost $14 million. But the advanced training systems inside could help McGregor prepare for and win fights that would likely net him multiples of that dollar figure. Millions will watch his fight against Mayweather, his first opportunity to put all that training to the test.