Conor McGregor hasn’t lost a MMA fight since 2010, but that was not the last time he was defeated.
Competing at the European Open No-Gi Jiu-Jitsu Championship in 2012, “The Notorious” couldn’t get past the first match, when he faced Kywan Gracie Behring. The Brazilian grappler placed third in the purple belt’s middleweight division, and recalls the day he beat McGregor.
“I had just moved to London, I believe that was my first tournament, and I had no idea who he was,” Gracie Behring, son of the legendary Marcelo Behring and a purple belt under Roger Gracie, told MMAFighting.com. “That was my first match in the tournament and I defeated him by 2-0 with a sweep.”
McGregor is 17-2 in MMA with 15 knockout victories, but both of his losses came in sub-minute submissions. Unbeaten in the UFC, the Irish sensation is slated to meet Chad Mendes for the interim UFC featherweight belt on July 11, but Gracie Behring is not impressed by “The Notorious'” grappling skills.
“His ground game is too weak, man,” he said. “He only has a good posture and is slippery in no-gi.”
Kavanagh said McGregor “has a fantastic guillotine off his back”, and that’s the same attack “The Notorious” tried when Gracie Behring swept him in 2012.
“He tried that guillotine against me and he didn’t get even close,” he said. “His coach is just talking to promote his fighter. That’s what they do. It’s marketing, and Dana White loves it.”
Kywan Gracie Behring, who trains muay thai and wrestling “for fun”, has no intentions to fight MMA. However, he would love to welcome McGregor back to a grappling tournament.
“I would tap him this time,” he said.