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Pros predict UFC 189: Conor McGregor vs. Chad Mendes
LAS VEGAS — Two weeks. That’s how long it took to mold a replacement fight into a massively anticipated pay-per-view event. If you’re anywhere within a five-mile radius of the MGM Grand, you won’t have to strain too hard to hear the rollicking refrains of the Irish faithful carrying on deep through the day, their devotion dying this neon desert the tri-color’s shade of spring green.
It was true before, and it’s never been more true now: no fighter travels quite like Conor McGregor.
But fights are won with skills rather than weigh-in spectacles, no matter how spectacular those spectacles may be. So in that regard, we turn back to the pros. Will the wrestler question ring true? Is Chad Mendes the man to spoil Ireland’s grand party? Or is McGregor really a man of destiny, a mouth from the Eire sent to swallow the featherweight division whole? All will be known soon enough.
Ben Rothwell: Being 50-percent Irish, I gotta go for my guy McGregor. Like him or hate him, I don’t give a f–k. He’s Irish, these Irish fans are awesome. A lot of them are going to be in that arena, and when you got that energy, man, when you got that crowd behind you, it makes you a different animal. He’s going to bring a hell of a fight. Mendes is a very, very tough fight for him, but when he beats this guy, he’s going to silence a s–tload of critics.
Michelle Waterson: I think Conor McGregor is going to take it. His confidence is just through the roof, and there’s just something to be said about that belief in yourself. I think fighting is 80-percent mental. If you can break your opponent down before they even step in the cage, the majority of the battle is already won. He gets under people’s skin so easy.
He’s doing it on purpose. It’s that mental warfare. And I always wanted these two to fight before McGregor was able to fight Aldo because I feel like the chain wrestling would get McGregor down. But with only a couple weeks’ notice, it’s kind of hard to get your mind wrapped around a championship fight.
Daniel Cormier: Tough fight to pick. I thought Conor matched up better against Jose Aldo. I think Aldo was the fight for McGregor. I’ve seen Chad Mendes dominate the best that this division has to offer, and I just think that wrestling is going to be very difficult for Conor.
But in 11 days, you don’t get ready to fight 25 minutes. I mean, let’s just be honest with each other. If Chad can push for 25 minutes, that’ll be a will and determination that most people have never seen in their lives. We’ll see on Saturday. Conor has the advantage in the cardio, obviously. But hey, Anthony Johnson trained much longer than I did, and when he had to wrestle as much as he did, he got tired. So if Chad can make Conor wrestle, that cardio will start to even itself out because Chad will be more comfortable in the wrestling situations than Conor will.
Jeremy Stephens: Honestly, I don’t know. I want Chad to win. I don’t really like Conor’s brash mentality and how he approaches the game. He could win, but I like Chad Mendes.
Jorge Masvidal: I got my money on Chad. I think Chad stylistically takes it. The only thing I’m worried about is he took the fight, obviously, on short notice. Five rounds, that’s big. Just to take a short notice fight for three rounds is tough. But a short notice fight for five rounds is real tough, you know? So that’s the only thing I’m worried about. But even that, I got my money on Chad. I got a couple thousand bucks on him.
Rose Namajunas: I picked McGregor when he was fighting Aldo, and I’m kind of leaning towards that as well versus Chad Mendes. I don’t know, I just feel like he’s on fire, but I’m really bad at predictions so I’m probably wrong. It’s just a feeling that I have. Just how he carries himself, he’s just the whole package. He’s just something special.
Dustin Poirier: Mendes. All the way. Of course Conor can catch him and knock him out, but I just think the wrestling matters. Everybody’s talking about how Mendes took this fight on short notice, but man, this guy is always in shape. He’s been competing his whole life, he knows how to perform and compete, and I’m leaning toward him. Styles make fights. I was picking Conor in the Aldo fight, but you know styles make fights, and now I’m picking Mendes.
Kevin Lee: A lot of people, they get their emotions in it. They look at, ‘oh, I hate Conor,’ stuff like that. I don’t see why a lot of fighters hate Conor anyway. He brings more attention to the sport. It’s better for all of us, you know?
And I think Conor wins it. Easy decision. I think Chad can be broken. I think that distance, Conor being a southpaw, those kicks, those spins kicks and those side kicks are going to keep him at distance, make him hesitant, and he will be broken. I think Chad is somebody who doesn’t mind being No. 2. I think he’s tough enough to where he won’t get finished, he’s got too much pride, but he’ll lose a decision.
Brad Pickett: Well the winner is definitely the fans, because it’s going to be a great fight. But I’m with everyone here, there’s that big question mark. Can Conor stop a wrestler? No one knows because he hasn’t fought one. Conor has everyone believing that it’s going to be no problem, so everyone’s like ‘yeah, I believe in Conor.’ But I’m a bit of a skeptic. Chad is no joke. No joke. When it comes to wrestling in MMA, I think he’s one of the best. So I’m intrigued.
Conor is really big for that weight class too. Very tall and lanky. Back in the day, 100-percent, I’d be leaning towards Chad Mendes. Now, a little bit, I don’t know… Conor’s got me believing. I’m aboard the hype train a little bit. Skills are skills, but when you have the self-belief that Conor has, that’s a powerful thing. If you believe so much in something, if you visualize it, you can make extraordinary things happen.
Cezar Ferreira: I expect a great fight. A tough fight. But I believe that Chad Mendes is going to beat him. He’s a much more technical guy and he has good wrestling. We’ve never seen McGregor with his back on the ground, so it’s going to be hard for him. I think Chad Mendes is going to win.
Cathal Pendred: I think a lot of people have the question of Conor, can he wrestle? Can he defend wrestling? People don’t know. I know. I’m pretty good at takedowns myself. He’s one of the hardest guys I’ve ever come across to take down. And in the eventuality that you do actually get him down, he’s straight back up, which is even worse because you waste your energy and then he’s popping you shots in the face.
I think that’s what’s going to happen Saturday night. Chad is going to have a few failed attempts, waste a lot of energy trying to get him down. With that wasted energy, he’s going to be getting popped in the face, and Conor hits hard for a featherweight. He’s the hardest hitting featherweight going and Chad won’t take too many of those. So I’ll say second-round stoppage by strikes.
Joseph Benavidez: Chad, obviously. Chad is one of my best friends and main training partners, so I know what he’s capable of in the gym. But even not seeing that, as a fighter looking from the outside, you’ve got to give Chad the advantage. He’s fought for the title twice. Conor hasn’t fought a wrestler like him with the punching power that he has, so he hasn’t stepped this high up in class yet. Chad just has more ways to win the fight. He can knock people out. As you’ve seen, he’s knocked people out who never have gotten knocked out before, then obviously he can take people down whenever he wants. Conor basically has one way to win. So even just looking at it like that, even if Chad wasn’t my best friend, I didn’t love him dearly, I would pick him.
Stipe Miocic: Chad. He’s explosive. Super athletic. He’s been there, done that. He fought the best in the world, man. I think if he does what he does, he takes him down, he grounds and pounds him, he’s such a good wrestler, I think he’s got that.
John Howard: That’s a hard fight to call. I’m leaning towards Mendes because he’s a wrestler. We’ve never seen Conor against as great a wrestler as Mendes, so I’m definitely leaning towards Mendes. But the thing is, the reason why it’s hard to call is because this is two weeks’ out. When you’re training for a fight for a whole camp, it’s different. If Mendes had a whole camp, Mendes wins. But because Mendes didn’t have a whole camp, only had two weeks to get ready, even though he’s always in shape, that’s why I can’t call it. But if I had to guess and put my money on it, I’m going to say Mendes.
Brandon Thatch: Mendes in under three rounds. If it goes to the fourth or fifth, I’d say McGregor, because Conor’s had time to prepare for those fourth and fifth rounds. Chad is very dangerous, very explosive, but I feel like the conditioning may be a part of it. There’s only so much you can do in a couple weeks. I was absolutely prepared for a three-round fight (in my last fight), and had that fight gone three rounds, I would’ve won.
Frank Mir: Mendes, just because of his wrestling ability. I think he hits extremely hard, he’s one of the best grapplers in the division, and I think, really, McGregor hasn’t shown his ability to defend that takedown. Pretty much nobody has beside Jose Aldo, and Mendes has still taken Jose down. Once the fight does go to the ground, I don’t know how McGregor is going to be a threat.
Matt Brown: I’m going to take Chad. I think Chad is a better athlete, he’s more experienced, and here’s what it comes down to in all reality: we don’t know what Conor can do at this level. He’s never fought anybody anywhere near the level of Chad Mendes, so we don’t know what he’s capable of.
We do know what Chad is capable of. I know how good of a wrestler he is. I’ve wrestled with Jack Jaggers, who Chad lost to barely in the NCAA finals, so I know how good of a wrestler he is. We see how good of athlete he is. We’ve seen what we can do with his knockout power. We know Chad. We don’t know Conor. Maybe Conor comes in and he’s the next Anderson Silva, he defends his title 15 times. But we have no real indication that he’s going to do that, so in terms of picking intelligently, you have to pick the man Mendes.
Dennis Bermudez: I got Chad Mendes just because they both are good strikers, but Chad’s got that element of wrestling. For someone to hit hard, they have to plant their feet. And if you plant your feet, it’s easy for a wrestler to take you down. So a few takedowns, then guys start second guessing throwing very hard.
Tim Means: I’m going to go with McGregor. I’ve just seen Mendes already fight Aldo a couple of times. I want to see something new, to see someone different at the top of that list. McGregor, I was signing posters with him the other day. He’s funny. He has that cool accent. He catches your attention. All of that is good, man, and I definitely think the skill is there. His skill backs up his mouth, so I would like to see McGregor win that fight.
Gunnar Nelson: Conor’s ability to defend the takedown and scramble to his feet is so good that it’s going to wear Chad down. He’s super accurate on the feet, very elusive, he stays in there, and he’s got a lot of reach on Chad as well, so I think that’s going to get him the victory. Third-round TKO.
Kenny Florian: This is a tough one. I think that Conor McGregor is a brilliant, elite striker. We just haven’t seen him against the elite wrestlers and grapplers of the division. He finally gets that in Chad Mendes, and you know the only thing I can really go on when I’m predicting fights is what we’ve seen up to this point. There’s a big question mark of how Conor can deal with countering the wrestling skills of Chad Mendes. And Chad Mendes is more than just a wrestler. He can knock you out as well. Having that double threat will pose some problems for Conor. I’m picking Chad Mendes to win by decision.
Johny Hendricks: I’m leaning towards Chad Mendes because of the wrestling. He’s got striking, he’s got powerful hands, and he’s got wrestling. So when you’re looking at those three things, McGregor hasn’t fought that. He’s fought only good strikers. Can he withstand that? If he can, then he’s going to hold the belt for a very long time and people won’t give him crap for talking so much trash. I was telling somebody earlier, it’s a double-edged sword. When you’re like McGregor, they’re going to love you when you win, they’re going to hate you when you lose.
Anthony Johnson: I see Mendes winning. I really respect the guys who’ve been through the fire, dude. The only person he’s lost to is obviously the champ, and he’s faced everybody basically there is to face to get where he is now. I just feel like McGregor just hasn’t done that. He hasn’t been through that fire yet to get where he is.
He’s definitely talked his way there. Nobody’s knocking his style of fighting or anything. I think he’s a talented fighter, for sure, and he truly believes in his style of fighting. But dude, you gotta call somebody out besides the champ. You can’t be 2-0 and saying ‘I want the champ next,’ you know what I’m saying? He should’ve called out Mendes first or something like that. Ricardo Lamas or whatever. But he’s in the situation that he’s in and I’m happy for him. Not many people can do the things he does, because he’s helping out not just himself, but he’s helping out UFC and he’s helping out MMA. He helping me out. He’s bringing exposure to all of us.
LAS VEGAS — Two weeks. That’s how long it took to mold a replacement fight into a massively anticipated pay-per-view event. If you’re anywhere within a five-mile radius of the MGM Grand, you won’t have to strain too hard to hear the rollicking refrains of the Irish faithful carrying on deep through the day, their devotion dying this neon desert the tri-color’s shade of spring green.
It was true before, and it’s never been more true now: no fighter travels quite like Conor McGregor.
But fights are won with skills rather than weigh-in spectacles, no matter how spectacular those spectacles may be. So in that regard, we turn back to the pros. Will the wrestler question ring true? Is Chad Mendes the man to spoil Ireland’s grand party? Or is McGregor really a man of destiny, a mouth from the Eire sent to swallow the featherweight division whole? All will be known soon enough.
Ben Rothwell: Being 50-percent Irish, I gotta go for my guy McGregor. Like him or hate him, I don’t give a f–k. He’s Irish, these Irish fans are awesome. A lot of them are going to be in that arena, and when you got that energy, man, when you got that crowd behind you, it makes you a different animal. He’s going to bring a hell of a fight. Mendes is a very, very tough fight for him, but when he beats this guy, he’s going to silence a s–tload of critics.
Michelle Waterson: I think Conor McGregor is going to take it. His confidence is just through the roof, and there’s just something to be said about that belief in yourself. I think fighting is 80-percent mental. If you can break your opponent down before they even step in the cage, the majority of the battle is already won. He gets under people’s skin so easy.
He’s doing it on purpose. It’s that mental warfare. And I always wanted these two to fight before McGregor was able to fight Aldo because I feel like the chain wrestling would get McGregor down. But with only a couple weeks’ notice, it’s kind of hard to get your mind wrapped around a championship fight.
Daniel Cormier: Tough fight to pick. I thought Conor matched up better against Jose Aldo. I think Aldo was the fight for McGregor. I’ve seen Chad Mendes dominate the best that this division has to offer, and I just think that wrestling is going to be very difficult for Conor.
But in 11 days, you don’t get ready to fight 25 minutes. I mean, let’s just be honest with each other. If Chad can push for 25 minutes, that’ll be a will and determination that most people have never seen in their lives. We’ll see on Saturday. Conor has the advantage in the cardio, obviously. But hey, Anthony Johnson trained much longer than I did, and when he had to wrestle as much as he did, he got tired. So if Chad can make Conor wrestle, that cardio will start to even itself out because Chad will be more comfortable in the wrestling situations than Conor will.
Jeremy Stephens: Honestly, I don’t know. I want Chad to win. I don’t really like Conor’s brash mentality and how he approaches the game. He could win, but I like Chad Mendes.
Jorge Masvidal: I got my money on Chad. I think Chad stylistically takes it. The only thing I’m worried about is he took the fight, obviously, on short notice. Five rounds, that’s big. Just to take a short notice fight for three rounds is tough. But a short notice fight for five rounds is real tough, you know? So that’s the only thing I’m worried about. But even that, I got my money on Chad. I got a couple thousand bucks on him.
Rose Namajunas: I picked McGregor when he was fighting Aldo, and I’m kind of leaning towards that as well versus Chad Mendes. I don’t know, I just feel like he’s on fire, but I’m really bad at predictions so I’m probably wrong. It’s just a feeling that I have. Just how he carries himself, he’s just the whole package. He’s just something special.
Dustin Poirier: Mendes. All the way. Of course Conor can catch him and knock him out, but I just think the wrestling matters. Everybody’s talking about how Mendes took this fight on short notice, but man, this guy is always in shape. He’s been competing his whole life, he knows how to perform and compete, and I’m leaning toward him. Styles make fights. I was picking Conor in the Aldo fight, but you know styles make fights, and now I’m picking Mendes.
Kevin Lee: A lot of people, they get their emotions in it. They look at, ‘oh, I hate Conor,’ stuff like that. I don’t see why a lot of fighters hate Conor anyway. He brings more attention to the sport. It’s better for all of us, you know?
And I think Conor wins it. Easy decision. I think Chad can be broken. I think that distance, Conor being a southpaw, those kicks, those spins kicks and those side kicks are going to keep him at distance, make him hesitant, and he will be broken. I think Chad is somebody who doesn’t mind being No. 2. I think he’s tough enough to where he won’t get finished, he’s got too much pride, but he’ll lose a decision.
Brad Pickett: Well the winner is definitely the fans, because it’s going to be a great fight. But I’m with everyone here, there’s that big question mark. Can Conor stop a wrestler? No one knows because he hasn’t fought one. Conor has everyone believing that it’s going to be no problem, so everyone’s like ‘yeah, I believe in Conor.’ But I’m a bit of a skeptic. Chad is no joke. No joke. When it comes to wrestling in MMA, I think he’s one of the best. So I’m intrigued.
Conor is really big for that weight class too. Very tall and lanky. Back in the day, 100-percent, I’d be leaning towards Chad Mendes. Now, a little bit, I don’t know… Conor’s got me believing. I’m aboard the hype train a little bit. Skills are skills, but when you have the self-belief that Conor has, that’s a powerful thing. If you believe so much in something, if you visualize it, you can make extraordinary things happen.
Cezar Ferreira: I expect a great fight. A tough fight. But I believe that Chad Mendes is going to beat him. He’s a much more technical guy and he has good wrestling. We’ve never seen McGregor with his back on the ground, so it’s going to be hard for him. I think Chad Mendes is going to win.
Cathal Pendred: I think a lot of people have the question of Conor, can he wrestle? Can he defend wrestling? People don’t know. I know. I’m pretty good at takedowns myself. He’s one of the hardest guys I’ve ever come across to take down. And in the eventuality that you do actually get him down, he’s straight back up, which is even worse because you waste your energy and then he’s popping you shots in the face.
I think that’s what’s going to happen Saturday night. Chad is going to have a few failed attempts, waste a lot of energy trying to get him down. With that wasted energy, he’s going to be getting popped in the face, and Conor hits hard for a featherweight. He’s the hardest hitting featherweight going and Chad won’t take too many of those. So I’ll say second-round stoppage by strikes.
Joseph Benavidez: Chad, obviously. Chad is one of my best friends and main training partners, so I know what he’s capable of in the gym. But even not seeing that, as a fighter looking from the outside, you’ve got to give Chad the advantage. He’s fought for the title twice. Conor hasn’t fought a wrestler like him with the punching power that he has, so he hasn’t stepped this high up in class yet. Chad just has more ways to win the fight. He can knock people out. As you’ve seen, he’s knocked people out who never have gotten knocked out before, then obviously he can take people down whenever he wants. Conor basically has one way to win. So even just looking at it like that, even if Chad wasn’t my best friend, I didn’t love him dearly, I would pick him.
Stipe Miocic: Chad. He’s explosive. Super athletic. He’s been there, done that. He fought the best in the world, man. I think if he does what he does, he takes him down, he grounds and pounds him, he’s such a good wrestler, I think he’s got that.
John Howard: That’s a hard fight to call. I’m leaning towards Mendes because he’s a wrestler. We’ve never seen Conor against as great a wrestler as Mendes, so I’m definitely leaning towards Mendes. But the thing is, the reason why it’s hard to call is because this is two weeks’ out. When you’re training for a fight for a whole camp, it’s different. If Mendes had a whole camp, Mendes wins. But because Mendes didn’t have a whole camp, only had two weeks to get ready, even though he’s always in shape, that’s why I can’t call it. But if I had to guess and put my money on it, I’m going to say Mendes.
Brandon Thatch: Mendes in under three rounds. If it goes to the fourth or fifth, I’d say McGregor, because Conor’s had time to prepare for those fourth and fifth rounds. Chad is very dangerous, very explosive, but I feel like the conditioning may be a part of it. There’s only so much you can do in a couple weeks. I was absolutely prepared for a three-round fight (in my last fight), and had that fight gone three rounds, I would’ve won.
Frank Mir: Mendes, just because of his wrestling ability. I think he hits extremely hard, he’s one of the best grapplers in the division, and I think, really, McGregor hasn’t shown his ability to defend that takedown. Pretty much nobody has beside Jose Aldo, and Mendes has still taken Jose down. Once the fight does go to the ground, I don’t know how McGregor is going to be a threat.
Matt Brown: I’m going to take Chad. I think Chad is a better athlete, he’s more experienced, and here’s what it comes down to in all reality: we don’t know what Conor can do at this level. He’s never fought anybody anywhere near the level of Chad Mendes, so we don’t know what he’s capable of.
We do know what Chad is capable of. I know how good of a wrestler he is. I’ve wrestled with Jack Jaggers, who Chad lost to barely in the NCAA finals, so I know how good of a wrestler he is. We see how good of athlete he is. We’ve seen what we can do with his knockout power. We know Chad. We don’t know Conor. Maybe Conor comes in and he’s the next Anderson Silva, he defends his title 15 times. But we have no real indication that he’s going to do that, so in terms of picking intelligently, you have to pick the man Mendes.
Dennis Bermudez: I got Chad Mendes just because they both are good strikers, but Chad’s got that element of wrestling. For someone to hit hard, they have to plant their feet. And if you plant your feet, it’s easy for a wrestler to take you down. So a few takedowns, then guys start second guessing throwing very hard.
Tim Means: I’m going to go with McGregor. I’ve just seen Mendes already fight Aldo a couple of times. I want to see something new, to see someone different at the top of that list. McGregor, I was signing posters with him the other day. He’s funny. He has that cool accent. He catches your attention. All of that is good, man, and I definitely think the skill is there. His skill backs up his mouth, so I would like to see McGregor win that fight.
Gunnar Nelson: Conor’s ability to defend the takedown and scramble to his feet is so good that it’s going to wear Chad down. He’s super accurate on the feet, very elusive, he stays in there, and he’s got a lot of reach on Chad as well, so I think that’s going to get him the victory. Third-round TKO.
Kenny Florian: This is a tough one. I think that Conor McGregor is a brilliant, elite striker. We just haven’t seen him against the elite wrestlers and grapplers of the division. He finally gets that in Chad Mendes, and you know the only thing I can really go on when I’m predicting fights is what we’ve seen up to this point. There’s a big question mark of how Conor can deal with countering the wrestling skills of Chad Mendes. And Chad Mendes is more than just a wrestler. He can knock you out as well. Having that double threat will pose some problems for Conor. I’m picking Chad Mendes to win by decision.
Johny Hendricks: I’m leaning towards Chad Mendes because of the wrestling. He’s got striking, he’s got powerful hands, and he’s got wrestling. So when you’re looking at those three things, McGregor hasn’t fought that. He’s fought only good strikers. Can he withstand that? If he can, then he’s going to hold the belt for a very long time and people won’t give him crap for talking so much trash. I was telling somebody earlier, it’s a double-edged sword. When you’re like McGregor, they’re going to love you when you win, they’re going to hate you when you lose.
Anthony Johnson: I see Mendes winning. I really respect the guys who’ve been through the fire, dude. The only person he’s lost to is obviously the champ, and he’s faced everybody basically there is to face to get where he is now. I just feel like McGregor just hasn’t done that. He hasn’t been through that fire yet to get where he is.
He’s definitely talked his way there. Nobody’s knocking his style of fighting or anything. I think he’s a talented fighter, for sure, and he truly believes in his style of fighting. But dude, you gotta call somebody out besides the champ. You can’t be 2-0 and saying ‘I want the champ next,’ you know what I’m saying? He should’ve called out Mendes first or something like that. Ricardo Lamas or whatever. But he’s in the situation that he’s in and I’m happy for him. Not many people can do the things he does, because he’s helping out not just himself, but he’s helping out UFC and he’s helping out MMA. He helping me out. He’s bringing exposure to all of us.
