McGregor vs. Mendes

This is the official discussion thread for McGregor vs. Mendes. Let's see what you've got.

Mike, i totally agree about trying to push Aldo out.

Any fighting company in the world would be thrilled to have the best Active P4P in the world fighting for them, except the UFC of course where the "best" fighters in the world are.

Aldo in Bellator, I´d watch that.

Here's the list of fighters who've gotten a title shot after fighting either Mendes or Edgar: 






That's right, no one. Only Koch was scheduled for one, it took him over 2.5 years to get there and his was one of the weakest resumes to begin with.


While I agree that Mendes & Edgar have separated themselves into a clear 2nd tier below Aldo and above the rest of the FW division, when you look at Conor's opposition vs. everyone else who's gotten a FW title shot in the UFC, it more than holds up. 

Josh Grispi, who never got the title shot due to injury and then losing to Poirier & Roop - earned title shot with 13-1 record 4-0 in WEC over Mark Hominick, Micah Miller, Jens Pulver, & L.C. Davis. 

Mark Hominick (yes the same guy who'd lost to Grispi) - earned title shot with post-Grispi 5 fight win streak: Savant Young, Bryan Caraway, Yves Jabouin, Leonard Garcia, and George Roop. 

Florian - 1 win over Diego Nunes at FW. HIs was earned, like Edgar based on his success at LW.

Mendes - was 11-0 at the time with the last 5 coming in WEC: EriK Koch, Anthony Morrison, Cub Swanson, Javier Vasquez, Omigawa, and Rani Yahya. 

Edgar - former LW champ coming off 2 controversial decision losses and still the smaller guy in the cage. 

and let's not forget Erik Koch, who also didn't get the shot but was scheduled: 12-1 at time with only loss to Mendes followed by 4 fight win streak: Bendy Casimir, Francisco Rivera, Raphael Assuncao, & Jonathan Brookins.

Chan Sung Jung - 3 fight win streak over Leonard Garcia, Mark Hominick, & Poirier which was preceded by losses to Garcia & Roop.

Lamas - 4 fight win streak (all in UFC following last fight in WEC which was a KO loss at LW to current BW Iuri Alcantara): Matt Grice, Cub Swanson, Hatsu Hioki, & Erik Koch. 

and then Mendes' 2nd shot - 5 fight win streak: Cody McKenzie, Yaotzin Meza, Darren Elkins, Clay Guida, & Nik Lentz.

Conor - Marcus Brimage, Max Holloway, Diego Brandao, Poirier, & Dennis Siver. The ONLY 2 comparable FW resumes are Lamas & Mendes' 2nd but the real reason anyone whines is because Conor hasn't faced a "fighter" who's going to try and wrestle him to win by decision. 

Now what's lost in just the numbers is how much Mendes has obviously improved: 4 KOs & only 1 decision in his 2nd title shot streak speak to that. But, oh wait, so has Holloway, Poirier has looked great since moving back up to LW although I think talk of him being ranked is premature, Brandao holds a sub win over Bermudez despite his unspectacular post-TUF record but also has a very tough strengh of schedule. Yes, Siver was a step back and an obvious attempt at getting Conor a fight to make him look good and continue his win streak. Hardly the worst matchup ever made though.

Lamas didn't fight either Edgar or Mendes before getting his shot & Cub did and look how that turned out. These 2 examples by themselves show how difficult a job the UFC has when scheduling FW title shots since there's a dominant champ and 2 very formidable gate-keepers to contender status, who combined in their careers have NEVER lost to any FW not named Jose Aldo. But Conor is vilified because he was going to get a title shot without fighting either one. 

@mulefloyd you can throw resumes left and right, but it doesn´t change the fact that the UFC is building Connor with good matches for his style and promoting him more than Kanye promotes himself, it´s  very clear that the UFC wants him as a champion, in the Reebok presentation they had all of their champions present (except Aldo) and yet Conor was the one at the front when they were posing for the shoot. now I don´t mind when they allow young fighters time to develop, but Conor is hardly a young new fighter, and they haven´t matched him once with fighters that could pose a threath to him, but to me it´s not even about that I just dislike the way in which the UFC promotes him, I find it tiresome to hear Dana say over and over how good Conor balls taste.

I find it funny that a LOT of people say that Conor is the best when he hasn´t yet fought the best , not even the 5th best FW, maybe he is or he will be but as of now, theres no way to know for a fact, but even so there are a lot of sore throats. to each it´s own, but I think is time to add (some) Conor fans to the most anoying/obnouxious fans list

* Edited at 07.03.2015, 1:47 PM ET *

I am having issues getting pumped for this fight. Definitely a let down. This fight can go multiple ways. I can see if Mendes can't get the fight to the ground it could be a long night for him. But on the other hand Mendes has faced a higher level of competitor than Mcgregor really has as well. But people that say Mcgregor talks his way into a title fight need to shut up. The squeaky wheel gets the grease and he finishes his fights. That is exciting and what people want to see. I give props to the UFC though for calling an interim fight. Aldo has pulled the 'injured" card before on multiple occasions for big fights and they called his bluff on this one, because he left them hanging on one of their biggest fights of the year.

@foley, Even if Aldo was in the habit of "pulling the "injured" card" (which I'm pretty positive he isn't), If there was ever a card Aldo would never ever dream of faking in injury out of it would be this one.

I think Aldo pulls out a lot for two reasons:

1. He doesn't fold under UFC pressure to fight through injuries like others
2. He really needs to be able to train properly during fight weak because it's a major part of his weight cut

I'm pretty sure that with a rib injury Aldo doesn't make weight or he makes it with nothing left in the gas tank. Any other injury you can work around, ribs they make it hard to laugh, cough, breathe.

Also, look at the 3D simulation of his ribs man, one of them is ****** up.

I lost all my ribs in Vietnam and still fought Conor the next day.

Want to see Conor humbled so badly.

McGregor is younger, a south paw and has a longer reach. People in the know, know that, that's the trifecta.

wow theres thay much doubter for McGregor? and new.... haha had to throw that in..

Seriously  McGregor is going to get taken down multiple times. McGregor  TKO 3.

I doubt that Aldo milks his injuries. He just trains too rough.

I don't think Aldo fakes or milks injuries by any means.  No one at the top of the heap like he is (and a perennial contender for top P4P fighter in most expert's opinions) would be afraid of any other fighter in their division..  But if you are someone who does think he has pulled out for other reasons beyond being too injured to fight, multiple times in the UFC, while using the reason of being injured..... there are honestly some decently strong things to point to depending how you want to view them.  

One example being, I believe the last four of five new opponents for a title defense where Aldo has pulled out of the initial fight were all originally fights scheduled in the US or Canada.  If his upcoming fight against the winner of McGregor and Mendes ends up being scheduled in Brazil, that would make if I'm recalling correctly, 4 of 5 US/Canada pull-outs that ended up next scheduled in Brazil instead.  So depending where he is matched up to fight the Conor/Chad winner, if four out of five title-defense-pull-outs by him go from being scheduled in the US/Canada to scheduled in Brazil, I can see a solid argument anyone could make for him manipulating fights to be more on his terms (and turf) via `injuries`.  I'm not suggesting it's what's happening (especially not in this fight as he obviously can't fight with his rib in that condition), just that for those who do, it's an easy thing to point to.

That he gets `healthy` in time to get put on cards in Brazil after pulling out of a card up North and has pulled out of multiple title defenses in just the city of Las Vegas alone can either be strong facts.... or just one of the most coincidentally advantageous patterns by a UFC champ there has been.  Fits in the `time for him to buy a lottery ticket` category of coincidental patterns, yet there's nothing I've seen that points to them not being coincidental regardless of how unlikely it would seem for it to just happen that way.

* Edited at 07.05.2015, 11:30 AM ET *

He's only fought in Brazil 3 times since going to the WEC. Both fights with Mendes and the fight with the Korean Zombie all took place in Rio de Janeiro. As far as I know, the first fight with Mendes was always scheduled to be at 142, in large part because Aldo was the only Brazilian champion at the time that had not fought on home soil. The fight against KZ was actually supposed to be against Anthony Pettis, until Pettis pulled out; however, I'm not aware of this date being a rescheduled date, just a different opponent. The only fight that I know of that Aldo pulled out of that was rescheduled to be in Brazil was the 2nd Mendes fight. 

* Edited at 07.05.2015, 10:56 AM ET *

Just off the top of my head Aldo pulled out of UFC 149 in Canada to be rescheduled for UFC 153 in Brazil, pulled out of UFC 176 in Vegas to be rescheduled for UFC 179 in Brazil, and has pulled out of UFC 189 in Vegas and there is as I said the `possibility` of his next fight being in Brazil.  When I'm on my laptop this evening instead of my phone I can see about a 4th to add to those 3 either rescheduled title fights from US/Canada to Brazil or with the current pull-out of course being up in the air, it's not as if it's set for a Brazil card, but could be.

As I said, I don't subscribe to Aldo milking injuries when he could fight theories, just was pointing out a pattern, albeit likely coincidental, that was noticeable without even digging deep.

* Edited at 07.05.2015, 11:24 AM ET *

Aldo also pulled out of 153 (in Brazil) and instead fought Edgar (original opponent was Koch) at 156 (in Vegas). 

Yes, which doesn't change that he pulled out of UFC 149 in Canada due to injury and the rescheduling was made for Brazil at UFC 153.  Him hurting his ankle in preparation for that fight led to another delay to UFC 156.  Doesn't change that it fits the theory that some have, which I've said I don't subscribe to, of the multiple US/Canada pull-outs that get scheduled next for Brazil once healthy again.

* Edited at 07.05.2015, 11:40 AM ET *