UFC 189 - McGregor v Mendes *READ MOD WARNING IN 1st POST*

JoeyJJ

DrPhilG wrote:

I was disgusted by the lack of support for the rest of the Irish

I expected better.

I said the same last night in the fight week thread during the event. Disgusted, were a lot of Irish event junkies.

DrPhilG

Lot of complete ar$eholes went over just for an excuse for a booze up.

Just reading on the Fight Club forums about a guy who missed the end of the event because his wife was in the loo and some tosser charged into the ladies and pi$sed all over her.

Mellor

wylie wrote: »

Yes Mendes is a top level fighter training all year round and yes i believe chad mentioned on UFC Embedded that he new he would eventually fight conor, and always maintains training in case he gets the call, but having a few months to concentrate on your opponents unique weakness have to be better. I not saying he would win, just saying.

Even if Mendes had a year to focus on McGregors weaknesses, he still arrives at the same conclusion. Take him down, keep him down. He failed to do that, a full camp wasn't going to significant change his wrestling abilities built over the last 20 years.

Mellor

Vim Fuego wrote: »

Ditto. Quite surprised about that but Dana said that only 2500 tickets were sold in Ireland (in the post fight presser). Didn't seem like that few on the night of course and it doesn't account for irish people living here but a lower number than I expected.

There was a significant number of Irish who flew over from places like australua who would be missing from ticket counts.

bono_v

Mellor wrote: »

Even if Mendes had a year to focus on McGregors weaknesses, he still arrives at the same conclusion. Take him down, keep him down. He failed to do that, a full camp wasn't going to significant change his wrestling abilities built over the last 20 years.

Yes but if mendes had a full training camp he wouldnt have gassed out. He blatantly gassed out.

El Guapo!

bono_v wrote: »

Yes but if mendes had a full training camp he wouldnt have gassed out. He blatantly gassed out.

An extra few weeks of a camp doesn't miraculously give you legendary endurance.
No matter how long his camp was, he still would've gassed at the same point. It's not like he was sitting at home eating Cheetos until he got the call from Dana. He was already in phenomenal shape. He just had a couple of weeks to focus on fighting Conor.

darced

This post has been deleted.

realdanbreen

cloudatlas wrote: »

Oh here we go get your tin foil hats out everyone.

Welcome to reality my friend. Like the UFC were going to allow McGreggor to lose and pass up on a €10 million bonanza!

El Guapo!

darced wrote: »

How can you come to that conclusion? Do you really think Mendes with 12 weeks training for a 5 round title fight would not be in better physical shape than the one coming in on two weeks notice?

Of course Mendes would say he is in great shape leading up to the fight as he can hardly say otherwise.

Fighters need to physically peak at the right time and there is no way Mendes could do that in two weeks,he already said himself he would like a rematch with a full camp behind him.

I dont see a different outcome but Chad would not gas as quick and probably makes the championship rounds.

Of course he would have been in better shape after a full camp, but I was addressing the point that "he wouldn't have gassed" if he had a full camp.
I'm saying that yes he still would have gassed. He put a lot of work into taking McGregor down and keeping him there and he was very active on the ground. Add that to the body kicks he took from McGregor and he was always going to run out of steam.
I'd love to see them fight again with Mendes having the full fight camp but as you said, I see the fight ending the same way.

what are we saying here? it was a fix? ffs!

realdanbreen

realdanbreen wrote: »

Welcome to reality my friend. Like the UFC were going to allow McGreggor to lose and pass up on a €10 million bonanza!

in relation to this one? I mean.

.ak

Knex. wrote: »

One of the moments of the night, for me.

Aw man, every second of that fight had it, even the cagey first round, but yeah, that bit gave me goosebumps, and the Rory fightback at the end of round 3 with the entire crowd erupting onto their feet.

Maysa07

Peist2007 wrote: »

Whole thing smacks of a fix. First sign of any trouble for Mendez and fight stopped. The fact there was so little time left in the round adds to the suspicion. Could be wrong but it looked dodgy

Have to agree, Mcgregor getting his ass handed to him and suddenly jumps up with two punches and wins? Mcgregor brings so much support and publicity to the sport they need him to win.. the whole thing looks dodgy alright.

El Guapo!

Maysa07 wrote: »

Have to agree, Mcgregor getting his ass handed to him and suddenly jumps up with two punches and wins? Mcgregor brings so much support and publicity to the sport they need him to win.. the whole thing looks dodgy alright.

As per the mod warning, don't post in this thread again.

Maysa07

Maysa07 wrote: »

Have to agree, Mcgregor getting his ass handed to him and suddenly jumps up with two punches and wins? Mcgregor brings so much support and publicity to the sport they need him to win.. the whole thing looks dodgy alright.

ah give over will yiz for gods sake. at no time had McGregor got hands over his face turtling up under a barrage of blows, FFS. First time McGregor is in a dog fight and he's handed a win??. so what! we all knew it wasn't gonna be easy stepping up to a class like medes. so tell me what would conor of had to do to qualify in your mind as a winner??? actually hold mendes head in the air??

Mendes landed a load of blows and it looked hairy for a while and we all knew that would happen. so if you think it was fixed then explain mendes trying his utmost to knock conor out, etc. you sound as bitter as the yanks!

armchair athletes the two of yiz!

Davei141

Dunno whats worse, posting about a fix or people responding to said posts. Ignore them.

.ak

wylie wrote: »

I think i noticed a bit of tension between Conor and Dana in the ring after the fight, Plus Lorenzo went to shake conors hand and conor ignored him. Conor seemed very pissed off with the media obligations and touring. Also in the post press conference Conor commented to a question about spending time with dana or something like that. Conor made a point in saying "when ever I'm with Dana its for business and thats it, He's a business man and i'm a business man. Just thought it was weird.

Probably nothing. Although I did notice Conor refused to put on the champion edition reebok jersey after the match. I think that'll be frowned upon, he was the only fighter not to do it. Altho he just looked so tired he couldn't get it on.

That reminds me also, re-watching it, I think McGregor got the nutrition/cutting part wrong. He looked overly tired, and he's cut that weight before and looked a lot less tired... I wonder if the jump in media obligations caused made it more difficult to time right.

He'll learn from it I suppose, he should talk to the UFC about it and insist he doesn't travel as much in the week leading up to it.

Davei141

.ak wrote: »

Probably nothing. Although I did notice Conor refused to put on the champion edition reebok jersey after the match. I think that'll be frowned upon, he was the only fighter not to do it. Altho he just looked so tired he couldn't get it on.

That reminds me also, re-watching it, I think McGregor got the nutrition/cutting part wrong. He looked overly tired, and he's cut that weight before and looked a lot less tired... I wonder if the jump in media obligations caused made it more difficult to time right.

He'll learn from it I suppose, he should talk to the UFC about it and insist he doesn't travel as much in the week leading up to it.

This was the biggest fight of his career by a mile, more than likely there was an adrenaline dump than messing up a cut. I also don't think he can turn down the money they are giving him for the media obligations but they are a joke, he should have told them to piss off flying out to NY for a fashion show, then out to ESPN right before a title fight.

.ak

Nabber wrote: »

So

We have condoms, we have divorce, we have same sex marriages..... People still the the 'aul ones' control what we get?
FFs lads, it's time to let that one go.

RTÉ don't have the rights, and in fairness why would they?
Fight was at 5am, the big players had turned it into a pay per view fest.

Conor is doing what he does. But this is not Italia 90, I think you are getting tied up in UFC American coverage. 'There will be a party on the Emerald Island, the whole country is watching'... It's balls lads and you know it. I like UFC/MMA. But Ireland has not longer been waiting for an MMA superstar than they have been for badminton.

I still have my suspicions about how much money is playing in deciding fights. The longer Conor goes on winning (and not fighting Aldo) the more they will make at each gate. When you are talking millions of dollars, some one has to be pulling strings.
They will keep building up Aldo fight. And there will be no end of people steeping up top fight Conor. The payday against Conor is just too much. But if someone humbles Conor, the gravy train ends.

I'm not calling shenanigans on all UFC. But this 'Conor' thing is shooting UFC to new heights. Good business involves maximizing outputs from your assets. Mendes as No.2 was stale, he was not the man who fought Aldo. Either this division never had any talent, or we are witnessing good business....

Remember, no sport has not had it's share of fixing, don't think that UFC is some righteous power house, where 'man to man' means you have too much pride to throw a fight

Fixed or not, the whole thing is entertaining

edit: I don't think Mendes threw the fight, but I think there was always a plan Aldo pull out. McGreggor said it himself, he took 2 takes on every media coverage in case it was Mendes or Aldo. I'm not sure of the dates of his media, but if it was before the rib x-rays, then it's fishy business

I think you're understating how many people watched the fight. Nearly all my of my friends from my generation (25-35) were up Sat night with friends over watching the fight, most of them wouldn't be MMA fans at all, and then those who weren't bothered were watching it the next day and talking about it on facebook. My feed is still clogged up with McGregor stuff. He's an absolute sensation in terms of social media coverage of an Irish athlete, but ofcourse the UFC do overhype things but I think it's fair to say a huge amount of Irish people, anyone interested in MMA anyway, were up at 5am to watch him.

Libadour

.ak wrote: »

I think you're understating how many people watched the fight. Nearly all my of my friends from my generation (25-35) were up Sat night with friends over watching the fight, most of them wouldn't be MMA fans at all, and then those who weren't bothered were watching it the next day and talking about it on facebook. My feed is still clogged up with McGregor stuff. He's an absolute sensation in terms of social media coverage of an Irish athlete, but ofcourse the UFC do overhype things but I think it's fair to say a huge amount of Irish people, anyone interested in MMA anyway, were up at 5am to watch him.

Walking home from a house party where we watched the fight was gas. Groups of blokes everywhere coming from different parties waving and cheering at each other at 8 in the morning mixed in with aul ones heading to get their shopping looking suitably confused.

Libadour

.ak wrote: »

I think you're understating how many people watched the fight. Nearly all my of my friends from my generation (25-35) were up Sat night with friends over watching the fight, most of them wouldn't be MMA fans at all, and then those who weren't bothered were watching it the next day and talking about it on facebook. My feed is still clogged up with McGregor stuff. He's an absolute sensation in terms of social media coverage of an Irish athlete, but ofcourse the UFC do overhype things but I think it's fair to say a huge amount of Irish people, anyone interested in MMA anyway, were up at 5am to watch him.

Walking home from a house party where we watched the fight was gas. Groups of blokes everywhere coming from different parties waving and cheering at each other at 8 in the morning mixed in with auld ones heading to get their shopping looking suitably confused.

sonofenoch

froog wrote: »

people keep mentioning how bad conor was on the ground, i dunno, all he was hit with was glancing elbows that didnt seem to hurt him, he got out of a submission attempt, mendes tired himself out and when they finally got back up, conor was full of beans and finished it quickly.

Exactly and he was talking all the time, those elbows weren't do all that damage and that was everything Mendes had.......still slightly concerning how easily he got thrown down

califano

sonofenoch wrote: »

Exactly and he was talking all the time, those elbows weren't do all that damage and that was everything Mendes had.......still slightly concerning how easily he got thrown down

He copied that off Patricia Arquette in True Romance.

.ak

sonofenoch wrote: »

Exactly and he was talking all the time, those elbows weren't do all that damage and that was everything Mendes had.......still slightly concerning how easily he got thrown down

In fairness one of Mendes' take downs was a thing of beauty, lifting his own BW and turning mcgregor midair and slamming him down whilst McGregor was defending was pure class. Not many could defend that. Mendes lats and back are massive, you can see he works on that constantly.

Myrddin

The main card was absolutely epic, truly like something that should have been held in a Colosseum! The Rory & Robbie fight was a complete battle between two pure warriors, and while it was gruesome, it's impossible not to respect the pair of them for the utter tenacity, heart, and endurance they showed. I hope Rory takes away from that fight something positive, & it doesn't have long lasting implications for him.

To say I was a bag of nerves for the McGregor fight is an understatement. I'd be quite new to UFC, I've been watching Conor about a year I'd say, & have been learning about the other fighters & weights slowly but surely over that time. This fight was different though, right from the get-go:

Conor's demeanour right from the walk out was different to what I'd seen from his most recent fights. He normally 'owns' the ring immediately after walking into it, warming up in elaborate ways, demonstrating his exceptional movement, and displays a level of confidence far above that of his opponent. This was different though, I didn't see any of that. Either Conor was just so focused, so aware that this was going to be his toughest test yet, he was nervous, or the weight cut took lumps out of him. Personally, I believe it was the former - just pure focus & awareness of the importance of this fight. The weight of expectation on him must have been enormous. I think he had nothing but his game plan in his head by that stage, & everything else went out the window.

In the fight itself, both fighters showed their absolute advantages over each other. On the ground, sure, Conor was never going to out-wrestle Chad. Conor said it himself post fight, Chad is without doubt the best wrestler in the division. Chad was always going to take this one to the floor, and he seemed to be able to do that almost at will. Conor defended some of the take downs, but I think only as the fight went on he could do that. Chad became less effective with each attempt. However, while Conor is no wrestler, he still had an answer for everything the divisions best wrestler could throw at him. I did think when Chad had him by the neck that it was over, but somehow, Conor escaped every floor battle. Chad's elbows looked brutal, but I don't think they were doing much other than causing the cut. Conor evaded a lot of them quite well.

On the feet, Chad had little to no answering to Conor's striking. Conor is to striking what Chad is to wrestling, & the sheer power, speed and accuracy of Conor is astonishing. He is an artist, without a doubt. I got annoyed at him a few times for dropping his guard because Chad has explosive speed...but the more I rewatch the fight, I think Conor knew very early on he had damaged Chad with those body hits, and he knew all he had to do was survive the ground exchanges, because Chad was running out of steam. I seen Chad visibly adjusting his upper body on several occasions, desperately trying to get oxygen into his lungs - those early body shots are what won Conor the fight.

Conor was incredibly humble in victory, and it's impossible to not love that chap for that alone. You could see the weight on his shoulders lifting, the emotion, hard work, dedication, pride, and achievement then set in, in its place - brining Conor to tears. It clearly meant everything to him, & to see such a passionate, skilled, and talented Irish person brought to tears and be so humble & pay respect to every Irish person out there - "I did this for us", makes it hard not to get choked up just watching it. The man is a true, sporting hero...and to think that he's Irish & represents us so well, fills me with pride and respect for him. He deserves every single ounce of his good fortune, because he earned it through blood sweat and tears. Yes he talks the talk, but this is nothing new to combat sports - it's a tactical and emotional thing...the important part is that he walks the walk, and that he does.

To say the fight was fixed, or that the ref stopped it too early, is downright wrong. Even myself, with my meagre viewing experience can see it for what it was, how anyone could think it was fixed is beyond me, it's disrespectful to what goes on in the ring, & it's disrespectful to BOTH fighters to say that. It just wreaks of a dislike for Conor when you read things like that, & fair enough, not everybody likes him, but Christ, don't let yourself down by resorting to that level of debate. Same with the early stoppage, quite simply, the clock doesn't matter...the ref's job is to protect the health of both fighters, & that was done impeccably. Chad took a right & a left, was put on his back, then resorted to a turtle defence position (which is basically "I can't see what's coming so I'll cover my face & hope for the best"), and clearly, very clearly in fact, was at tha point at risk of suffering real, harmful damage. Nobody wants that, do they?

I've huge, huge respect for Chad after watching all the press and media obligations, the embedded series, and the fight itself. He comes across as a really nice chap, and a savage fighter to boot. Team Alpha Male, ha, no, they're not for me...but Chad is the real deal. It's funny, the first time I seen Conor (could have been on the Late Late, I can't remember), I remember not being too gone on him. I knew squat about MMA/UFC, and all I knew was there was some chap on tv with an attitude. However, I must have been intrigued or something, because I took the time to learn about him. In that time, I've learned about Conor and to judge him purely on his media talk is really not doing him credit. Conor is an Irish hero today, and as proud as he is of his support, it's been a pleasure to support him and he's given so much back to his supporters. What a fight.

slicus ricus

.ak wrote: »

That reminds me also, re-watching it, I think McGregor got the nutrition/cutting part wrong. He looked overly tired, and he's cut that weight before and looked a lot less tired... I wonder if the jump in media obligations caused made it more difficult to time right.

The rumor going around is that he had a pretty bad knee injury (Schaub said on that fight companion thing that he heard it was a torn MCL that required surgery) and could not do the same level of cardio he normally does, therefore making the cut more difficult. Given that rumor and the stuff Chael said about Conor cutting from 172lbs to 145lbs in 8 days (which he probably wasn't supposed to say given Conor's vehement denial of it), it looks like he had a lot of water weight to cut in the last few days.

I personally thought he looked a bit gaunt on fight night, he normally looks a lot healthier than that going into the Octagon. There's only so much water you can put back into your body healthily in a day, so it is quite likely the cut had an effect on him, likely caused in part by the knee injury.

If the rumors on the torn MCL and the effects this had on his cut are true, that makes Conor one tough as nails dude in my book, given that he took the best Mendes could throw at him and still got back up and got the KO.

Seifer

slicus ricus wrote: »

I personally thought he looked a bit gaunt on fight night, he normally looks a lot healthier than that going into the Octagon. There's only so much water you can put back into your body healthily in a day, so it is quite likely the cut had an effect on him, likely caused in part by the knee injury.

Just on a mildly related note; January 2nd is the date being bandied around for the Aldo fight which is obviously after the October I.V. ban.

Will it be possible for McGregor to make it down to 145 without an IV to recover?

Irishcrx

slicus ricus wrote: »

The rumor going around is that he had a pretty bad knee injury (Schaub said on that fight companion thing that he heard it was a torn MCL that required surgery) and could not do the same level of cardio he normally does, therefore making the cut more difficult. Given that rumor and the stuff Chael said about Conor cutting from 172lbs to 145lbs in 8 days (which he probably wasn't supposed to say given Conor's vehement denial of it), it looks like he had a lot of water weight to cut in the last few days.

I personally thought he looked a bit gaunt on fight night, he normally looks a lot healthier than that going into the Octagon. There's only so much water you can put back into your body healthily in a day, so it is quite likely the cut had an effect on him, likely caused in part by the knee injury.

If the rumors on the torn MCL and the effects this had on his cut are true, that makes Conor one tough as nails dude in my book, given that he took the best Mendes could throw at him and still got back up and got the KO.

Absolutely agree with this.

He showed the fight and spirit of a true champion for doing what he done , taking the fight with everything that went on , the notice , the change , the injury and not backing down.

Jose Aldo - Take note son.

Help!!!!

The UFC were win, win whatever the outcome of the fight
If Mendes won, he would fight Aldo next, the yanks would bill it as the champ v the man who stopped McGregor & all the McGregor haters would watch it. They would then have the return of McGregor etc
As it is, the fight was stopped because Mendes got hit with two clean shots to the head. If it happened earlier in the round no one would be crying fix. Mendes himself said he had no problem with the decision as he respected Herb Dean who is rated the best ref in the UFC.
Whatever people think of McGregor the yanks love the atmosphere the Irish fans are bringing to the UFC which can only be good for Ireland in the long term.

slicus ricus

Seifer wrote: »

Just on a mildly related note; January 2nd is the date being bandied around for the Aldo fight which is obviously after the October I.V. ban.

Will it be possible for McGregor to make it down to 145 without an IV to recover?

Do we know for sure that McGregor definitely uses an IV to re-hydrate? I don't think all of the fighters do and I also read an article by George Lockhart (one of the weigh cutting gurus some of the fighters hire) where he recommends against them in most cases (see link below and scroll down to "Refuelling" part):

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2014/12/12/7383419/mma-nutrition-diet-weight-cutting-guide-mma-george-lockhart