McGregor Fact Checks Adesanya’s UFC 236 Knockdown Record

According to UFC stats, Adesanya now holds the record for most knockdowns in a title fight. Unsurprisingly, Conor McGregor disagrees.

UFC 236 this past Saturday night (April 13, 2019) was a great night of fights. Not only was the main event between Dustin Poirier and Max Holloway a barnburner, but the co-main with Israel Adesanya narrowly beating Kelvin Gastelum was wild as well (watch the highlights here). And while Gastelum kept things tight and made it two rounds each going into the fifth, Adesanya certainly got his licks in across the match: stats have him dropping Gastelum four times — a record for knockdowns in a UFC title fight.

But, wait a second. A certain Conor McGregor would like to dispute that claim.

Unfortunately for McGregor, the official UFC stats website only counts three of his knockdowns as official in the Eddie Alvarez fight at UFC 205. But we’re not surprised it’s a bit of a contentious issue for Conor.

Re-watching the fight, he did seem to knock Alvarez down five times, three times in the first round and twice in the second. But in each round there was one that wasn’t a complete ass-to-canvas knockdown, just dropping Alvarez to one knee. And while the announcers counted them during the fight, the tally was later updated to exclude them.

When in doubt, we imagine McGregor will continue to side with the facts that prove he’s the best. What is more impressive, in our minds? McGregor pulled off his feat in under two rounds for the undisputed title.