Conor McGregor has branded a 'easy fight' by Chad Mendes, even though he beat him in the second round of their collision of the world title.
In the summer of 2015, a Prime McGregor conquered the most difficult round of its UFC career to stop to stop Mendes and win his first title under the banner of the promotion. The American had started in the short term to replace champion Jose Aldo, who offered an almost completely different stylistic challenge.
However, there has always been a consensus that if Mendes had been given more than a matter of days to train, he might have pushed the pace longer and would win the fight. He maintains this idea and even claims that Aldo was a more difficult fight than McGregor.
Chad Mendes claims that Conor McGregor was an 'easy fight' despite KO -loss
Although Conor McGregor took him out with his notorious left hand on UFC 189, Chad Mendes still claims that he was not that difficult of an opponent. In the first round he completely dominated with his wrestling, and he even finished almost in round two before he finally lost position.
“When people ask who was my most difficult opponent, everyone simply takes Conor automatically because it is Conor McGregor,” Mendes said, appearing on the radical health radio. “But in all honesty, Conor would have been an easy fight if I was in shape.
“Aldo is much athletic, more explosive, strong with great Jiu-Jitsu and incredibly striking. The game of Conor at the time was striking. When I would bring it down, he was the type of man who argued for a man like me where he would just hold.”
Conor McGregor's victory over Chad Mendes led to UFC Superstardom
It is difficult to imagine for newer fans who have had inactivity for four years, but Conor McGregor was once an active and beloved UFC champion. He flew through the rankings of featherweight to get drawing at number one position within just a year and a half and won gold in two weight classes.
His victory over Mendes made the final meeting between he and Aldo even greater. And when he stopped the seemingly unbeatable Brazilian in a round, it launched his star power in the stratosphere.
Even a loss for Nate Diaz could not delay his momentum; He quickly removed his rival and won before he went for gold in a second weight class. The whole of his run from signing to two -weight world champion happened within just three and a half years.
Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Since then, however, he has not been able to stay consistent and now McGregor's career in the Octagon seems to be anything but over. His enormous crossover match with Floyd Mayweather earned him millions, but left him out of the UFC action for two years.
When he returned, Khabib Nurmagomedov dominated him on UFC 229 in the largest MMA fight of all time. From there he took a year before returning with a quick about Donald Cerrone and a long spell on the sidelines due to coronavirus -hutdowns.
He finally came back against Dustin Poirier in January 2021, but was shocked for the first time in his life. Months later they had a trilogy fight in which he broke his leg, and he has not returned since then.
Comments