UFC 189: Conor McGregor vs. Chad Mendes PBP (Discussion)

Yeah. In round 1-3. Rounds 4-5, he's half the fighter. The weight cuts gets to him and he coasts through. That last Mendes fight was close and showed Aldo can be had in the later rounds.

If Conor manages to win 1 round in the first 3, it could be one hell of a fight as Aldo gases in the 4th and 5th like always.

That's true, but we haven't seen Conor in the deep water yet either.

I just can't imagine that with his weightcut he could possibly be all there after 15 minutes of fighting.
 
That's true, but we haven't seen Conor in the deep water yet either.

I just can't imagine that with his weightcut he could possibly be all there after 15 minutes of fighting.

Do you think he'll pace himself against Aldo or try and storm him to see if he can catch him out?
 
Do you think he'll pace himself against Aldo or try and storm him to see if he can catch him out?

Dude, who knows. That's mma for you.

*edit
it's a legit question. I'd venture pace.
 
Do you think he'll pace himself against Aldo or try and storm him to see if he can catch him out?

Storm him. Conor has been a pressure fighter consistently throughout his UFC tenure.

Actually, I think he looked even wilder than usual against Mendes, but he has never paced himself.
 
WOW!!! YES!!! That was a great fight. Mendes did well, great win for Conor and congratulations to him for winning the interim title. McGregor can be the unified champion!
 
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But let's not kid ourselves. He had no idea how to get out of that position. That is not good and needs to be addressed if he is to have a long stint as a Champion.

Oh, and Conor should get used to the hard cuts and forget any plans of going up to 155. lol. Can you imagine Khabib Nurmagomedov getting his hands on him? lol. wow. Khabib will break him, easily.

I'm not disagreeing with anything you said, but I'll also point out that the new(ish) five-round fights don't necessarily favor the grappler. I mean, we've seen how Hendricks couldn't hold Robbie down enough to get the decision. We've seen how Mendes couldn't hold Conor down enough. There just isn't that sense of urgency. It's more like, "Oh, you got me down, you dropped a few elbows -- ok, you win this one round. Wear yourself out, because we start on the feet next round." There isn't the mad rush for the bottom guy to get back up that opens up opportunities for top-position wrestlers to drop bombs.

So no, I'm not sure Conor's bottom game needs to be addressed if his cardio game and overall takedown defense are good. He can be taken down for several minutes each fight and still win in 2015 and beyon. I don't see Aldo controlling him for five rounds. Maybe Frankie, and that's about it. Frankly (pun intended), I think Edgar, Stephens, Cub, Holloway are his only real challenges, in that order. Frankie should be -150 or close to it. Aldo should be +325.
 
anyone got the gif yet?

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Dude, who knows. That's mma for you.

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it's a legit question. I'd venture pace.

You venture pace? Uhm. I think that would be more risky for Conor. It goes aganist everything that makes him good: aggression, fearlessness and complete self belief.

Damn. Really excited about seeing this fight.

Could end being up there in MMA lore if it lives up. I'm talking Fedor v. CroCop type of shit.
 
I'm not disagreeing with anything you said, but I'll also point out that the new(ish) five-round fights don't necessarily favor the grappler. I mean, we've seen how Hendricks couldn't hold Robbie down enough to get the decision. We've seen how Mendes couldn't hold Conor down enough. There just isn't that sense of urgency. It's more like, "Oh, you got me down, you dropped a few elbows -- ok, you win this one round. Wear yourself out, because we start on the feet next round." There isn't the mad rush for the bottom guy to get back up that opens up opportunities for top-position wrestlers to drop bombs.

So no, I'm not sure Conor's bottom game needs to be addressed if his cardio game and overall takedown defense are good. He can be taken down for several minutes each fight and still win in 2015 and beyon. I don't see Aldo controlling him for five rounds. Maybe Frankie, and that's about it. Frankly (pun intended), I think Edgar, Stephens, Cub, Holloway are his only real challenges, in that order. Frankie should be -150 or close to it. Aldo should be +325.

That's partly true. I agree. Strikers have more chances to land the fight ending shot.

But if you take a quality wrestler/grappler (not saying Mendes wasn't, but his 1st Rd gameplan was rather silly. standing in front of Conor like post as he thunked him with kicks? come on, man), that grappler can work him for 5 rounds without wasting energy.

Now you don't have to be Khabib level good, that's God-mode grappling, but if you come in with one intention, to take Conor down and win by points, you can do it. Edgar can do it, I have no doubts.
 
That's partly true. I agree. Strikers have more chances to land the fight ending shot.

But if you take a quality wrestler/grappler (not saying Mendes wasn't, but his 1st Rd gameplan was rather silly. standing in front of Conor like post as he thunked him with kicks? come on, man), that grappler can work him for 5 rounds without wasting energy.

Now you don't have to be Khabib level good, that's God-mode grappling, but if you come in with one intention, to take Conor down and win by points, you can do it. Edgar can do it, I have no doubts.

I have no doubt the bolded was Chad's intention, but he got thumped in the body very early in the fight with several hard kicks and one hard left hand. Then he went all-in on a takedown or two that were fought off with a scramble. In the meantime, he got punched in the face several times.

After finally securing a takedown, he got locked in full guard and elbowed so hard from the bottom that he was complaining to the ref (when was the last time you saw an elite wrestler on top whining to the ref about shots from the bottom?).

And, throughout all of this, Conor was scrambling whenever he could and landing HEAVY shots on the break and at distance. All this makes it kinda hard to keep moving and wrestling...

It's like the old BJJ saying that a black belt turns into a purple belt after getting punched in the face a few times. Mendes is an awesome wrestler, but he was taking massive damage very early in a five-round fight.
 
My #1 takeaway from this fight is that McGregor has one hell of a chin. He didn't look the least bit troubled by Mendes' shots, whether it was those bombs on the feet or some of the elbows/overhands that were coming in when he was on his back.
 
I have no doubt the bolded was Chad's intention, but he got thumped in the body very early in the fight with several hard kicks and one hard left hand. Then he went all-in on a takedown or two that were fought off with a scramble. In the meantime, he got punched in the face several times.

After finally securing a takedown, he got locked in full guard and elbowed so hard from the bottom that he was complaining to the ref (when was the last time you saw an elite wrestler on top whining to the ref about shots from the bottom?).

And, throughout all of this, Conor was scrambling whenever he could and landing HEAVY shots on the break and at distance. All this makes it kinda hard to keep moving and wrestling...

It's like the old BJJ saying that a black belt turns into a purple belt after getting punched in the face a few times. Mendes is an awesome wrestler, but he was taking massive damage very early in a five-round fight.

It's why I said Mendes had a terrible Rd 1 gameplan, standing in front of Conor. He underestimated Conor's power. I think from now on, no Featherweight is going to make that mistake. They are going to take him down roll with him.

By the time Mendes got him to the ground in Rd 1 he'd eaten 4-5 solid body kicks. Not good at all.
 
It's why I said Mendes had a terrible Rd 1 gameplan, standing in front of Conor. He underestimated Conor's power. I think from now on, no Featherweight is going to make that mistake. They are going to take him down roll with him.

By the time Mendes got him to the ground in Rd 1 he'd eaten 4-5 solid body kicks. Not good at all.

Conor played him mentally.

That was the biggest factor in the fight.

Mendes could have done much better if he had ignored Conor's mental games and controlled the range of the fight.
 
Reported.

This dudes a disgrace, but this just shows now, most of this hate is over. ye there will still be 5% of them but there going to look so fucking stupid now there is so few of them they will just vanish one by one, as the large amount of people who dislike conor but are not haters will not be siding with them anymore. ;) hate hate, mendes got KTFO and put on queer street by the GOAT!

What a card last night, best main card ive ever seen by far.
 
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