UFC 189 was an absolutely brilliant event with two excellent title fights.
In the co-main event, welterweight champion Robbie Lawler took on the enigmatic Rory MacDonald. Lawler, who has a diverse striking attack and an almost peerless cage savvy, was able to batter MacDonald for much of the fight. While the Canadian nearly took the win in the third round after staggering the champ with a head kick, Lawler regained his composure, worked his way through the fourth round and made MacDonald crumble with a clean punch to the nose. Watch the highlights here:
— Steven Rondina (@srondina) July 12, 2015
In the main event, Conor McGregor maintained his top contender spot by knocking out Chad Mendes. You can check out the full fight video highlights here:
— Steven Rondina (@srondina) July 12, 2015
In the early goings of the bout, McGregor landed several body kicks that visibly knocked the stamina out of Mendes. Mendes was breathing heavily after just a couple of minutes, but he mustered up takedown attempt after takedown attempt.
For a time, it seemed as though the NCAA wrestler would be able to enjoy victory without much difficulty. Mendes, however, would flub a guillotine choke attempt, allowing McGregor to escape. The accumulated damage from McGregor‘s body kicks slowed Mendes down in a big way, which allowed McGregor to effortlessly stalk him around the cage. McGregor would hammer him with a devastating left hand to the jaw and, at 4:57 of Round 2, got the wave out of Herb Dean.
With McGregor and featherweight champ Jose Aldo both holding UFC gold, a blockbuster title unification bout is likely going down in late 2015 or early 2016. Watch for more news on the bout as it becomes available.
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