Chad Mendes may not have been the fight Conor McGregor wanted at UFC 189, but Mendes is the fight he got. UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo withdrew from July 11’s mega-event with broken ribs earlier this week, sinking what was likely the most anticipated featherweight match-up in the sport’s history. Now McGregor and Mendes are slated to vie for the interim title in UFC 189’s headlining bout, and McGregor wasted little time letting the world know what he thinks about his new opponent.
“I think Chad is a substitute,” McGregor said Wednesday on a media conference call. “A B-level (fighter). I think he’s a wrestler with an overhand who gasses. I think his body weight to his height, his body is in disproportion, and I think that hampers him as a fighter. I think that’s why he gasses and he gets that tired.
“That’s why when I’m pressing him and I’m pressing him, I’m having these exchanges and these scrambles, his belly is going to be breathing in and his body is going to be screaming for oxygen and I’m going to still be there in his face, cracking him with everything that I have. Every shot; the heel, the knee, the elbow, the fist, every shot in the book I have. And that will be that. Eventually he will give, like they all do.”
As an All-American wrestler widely considered to be one of the most talented fighters in the 145-pound division, Mendes rarely hears such disrespect from his fellow featherweights. His only two career losses came at the hands of Aldo, the second of which stands as one of the greatest title fights in the division’s history. So after hearing McGregor’s assessment, Mendes couldn’t help but wonder aloud how the Irishman was going to be able to accomplish everything he claimed while being plastered to the mat.
“What are you going to do?” McGregor retorted. “You can’t even pass guard. You’re a white belt on the mat. Oh, you get me down? You hold me down? I’ll butcher you from the bottom, I’ll get back up and butcher you on the feet.”
McGregor added later, “I am very confident that if we exchange in any grappling sequence, I have the ability to dominate him.”
McGregor and Mendes may not have the interminable history McGregor and Aldo shared, but they have a history nonetheless. The most memorable of their interactions came just days before Mendes’ rematch against Aldo at UFC 179, when McGregor interrupted an interview on European television to inform Mendes that he could “rest [his] balls” on Mendes’ forehead.
It was just another example of the mind games for which McGregor has become notorious, and Mendes admitted Wednesday that the incident still bothered him. With less than two weeks before UFC 189, it’s unlikely McGregor will be able to play up his tricks much more than that against Mendes. Although at this point, after training for the better part of 2015 for his shot at UFC gold, that’s just fine with him.
“I can hear a quiver in his voice there,” McGregor said. “I feel when it comes down to it, and the shots are exchanged, I see him more as an athlete than as a fighter. So I feel he will break in there. It doesn’t matter whether the build-up has happened or not. He will get in there and he will break.”
While the way UFC 189 played out is far from ideal for McGregor, it still could end up playing in his favor in quite a few ways. A victory over Mendes would undoubtedly skyrocket any anticipation for an eventual match-up against Aldo. Also, by accepting a fight on ultra-short notice against one of the division’s strongest wrestlers, McGregor has a chance to put any doubts about his defensive wrestling abilities to bed.
Even in that case, though, McGregor knows his critics will find something else to harp on as he continues his march to the top.
“They’ll always say something,” McGregor said. “Let me tell you, because you sound like one of those people, they’ll always say something to try and discredit what I am doing here. There’s always going to be questions. Every fight there’s a question. Now it’s the wrestler question. Then it’s going to be the interim question. Then when I smoke Chad, he’s only had two weeks.
“There will always be something to try and discredit me. But at the end of the day, cash beats credit every day of the week. And that’s what I’m here for. I’m here to shut this man down, break that pay-per-view record and cash them big fat checks. And f–k everybody who’s doubting me.”