Zlatan Ibrahimovic has offered Conor McGregor the highest praise imaginable - by comparing him to Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
The Swedish striker - who has just signed a new deal at Manchester United - has never been short of self confidence. Actually, scratch that. The Swedish striker has so much self confidence, he may genuinely believe he is invincible.
That is why the following comment from Zlatan, in an interview with SPORTbible about McGregor's fight against Floyd Mayweather, represents the ultimate compliment for the Irishman:
"He is the Ibrahimović of martial arts… and I’m the McGregor of the football world."
Zlatan is famously a huge MMA fan, and a skilled fighter himself.
That perhaps explains why he is such a huge fan of UFC champ McGregor - and why he is backing him to upset the odds and hand Mayweather the first defeat of his career.
The interview can be seen here:
“Here you have a guy that has made a career out of many years," says Zlatan, "and that is Mayweather.
"And then you have the other guy that has made a career in a short time, but … he made himself a big name.
"Everything he said he did, and in this case, you have the MMA going into the boxing.
"Before, you had the boxing trying the MMA and he was outclassed immediately.
"Me as a huge fan of the MMA, I see this fight… I don’t know. It can go both ways.
"Either what people predict that Mayweather will win easy, which I don’t believe.
"I think it’s a hard fight, I think… Mayweather…
"Conor has a power he can knock you out from every angle.
"And he has a confidence, like me.
"He is the Ibrahimović of martial arts and I’m McGregor of the football world.
"So I see him with his confidence. He will win.”
"Because he believes in himself so much and like I say, in everything you do the mental part is 50%.
"If you have the mental, the head, you can do it and achieve.
"And then at the same time he’s skilful, he is the one he is. So I believe in Conor!”