It’s rare that we see Chad Mendes taking large gulps of air in the first round of a fight. But there he stood in front of a sold-out MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday night, desperately looking for takedowns and retreating flatfooted in complete exhaustion.
While Mendes only had a few weeks to train for the five-round title fight, his opponent, Conor McGregor, endured months of preparation for UFC 189. McGregor was initially slated to face featherweight champion Jose Aldo in the main event, but the UFC got word that Aldo had sustained a rib injury in training that could potentially keep him out of the fight. Combate (per MMAFighting.com) broke the news.
So a plan B was created to ensure fans still received a title fight at UFC 189. If Aldo wasn’t able to compete, Mendes would step in as a late replacement against McGregor for an interim title. Plan B became official a week later, nearly two weeks out from the fight, when Aldo officially withdrew from the blockbuster bout.
UFC President Dana White appeared on ESPN’s SportsCenter to break the news.
The fight seemed like a no-brainer for Mendes, who typically stays in shape year-round. When speaking with MMAFighting.com leading up to the bout, he said he felt “damn good” heading in against McGregor on short notice.
But the actual fight didn’t play out that way. Mendes gassed early in the bout and was run over by the same McGregor hype train that has claimed so many others.
After suffering his third career loss, Mendes had a different tone when speaking to the media at the post-fight press conference:
“I was pretty damn tired, honestly, at the end of [the second round], but I took that fight on short notice, and that’s the risk I was taking. I’d absolutely love to get back in there again with a full training camp and try that. So hopefully we can make that happen one day.”
There is no question we didn’t see the best version of Mendes, but I could counter that argument by also saying we didn’t see the best version of McGregor either. McGregor had months to prepare for Aldo, who is a completely different style opponent than Mendes.
Obviously, McGregor didn’t spend as much time defending takedowns in training as he might have if he knew he would be facing Mendes from the very beginning.
Though he wouldn’t go into detail about it, McGregor also opened up at the post-fight presser about a serious injury he suffered during training camp that moved most of his workout sessions to a physical therapy room.
Mendes gassing early was likely a result of the consistent shots to the body he was absorbing from McGregor. It’s no secret in combat sports that consistent damage to the body can really take a toll on a fighter’s endurance.
Mendes showed signs of fatigue in the first round. It’s hard to fathom a year-round, healthy fighter like him gassing in the first five minutes simply because he didn’t have a full training camp. Not to mention, he wasn’t too far off from his five-round camp for his bout with Ricardo Lamas in April.
Full training camps for both Mendes and McGregor would change the fight, but that doesn’t mean the outcome would be any different.
Jordy McElroy is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. He also is the MMA writer for FanRag Sports and co-founder of The MMA Bros.
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