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UFC 189 Recap

Monday, 13 July 2015 08:41

Ruairi recaps an incredible night

If you were asleep during the Conor McGregor fight, chances are you were woken up at about 5.35am in the early hours of Sunday morning by me and many others screaming at the TV.

We had just spent the best part of 10 minutes watching the Dubliner get taken down by Chad Mendes and elbowed in the face repeatedly. It was looking like the question that had dogged McGregor for the past year - what would happen when he faced a top class wrestler in the octagon - was being answered. And it wasn't making for pretty viewing for the legions of Irish in the MGM Grand Garden Arena, or for the millions (AND MILLIONS!) watching at home. The UFC's golden boy was being dominated by the Team Alpha Male fighter. McGregor lost the first round, and was on his way to losing the second. 

The thing is though, this is Mixed Martial Arts, not ONE Martial Art. Mendes DID have the better of the Notorious on the mat. Mendes DID take McGregor down 4 times. (McGregor stuffed three take down attempts though, meaning the elite wrestler was successful with just 57% of his take down attempts).

Mendes DID open up a cut just over McGregor's right eye with a glancing elbow in the first. That was a first - we'd never seen a bloodied Conor McGregor before. Bleary eyed fans up and down the country were watching their televisions with the morning light creeping through the blinds, wondering if this was it - had McGregor met his match?

It was no real surprise that McGregor was having the better of it in the striking exchanges. With an eight inch reach advantage and that hugely awkward stance the southpaw was able to pick off some nice shots, particularly to the mid section of Mendes. Those were designed to test the American's cardio - those strikes were going to slow him down. Mendes timed his take downs beautifully, as you'd expect, and he was happy to be in his natural habitat - on top, raining down elbows from inside McGregor's guard.

For much of the second round Mendes was content to stay in that guard. McGregor, for his part, wasn't particularly active off his back. He landed some nice elbows to the top of his opponent's head, and they hurt. Mendes looked up to referee Herb Dean to ask if they were legal, to which the veteran referee responded in the affirmative. But other than that, McGregor was patient. He did a good job of containing Mendes and didn't take too much damage, despite the American's dominant position.

But with 30 seconds on the clock in the second round, Mendes thought he had a chance. He stepped over and attacked the neck of the Irishman. McGregor, a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu brown belt under John Kavanagh, defended expertly and seconds later they were on their feet, McGregor back in his natural habitat. Mendes took a deep, deep breath. He had spent a huge amount of energy in that second round. He now had 30 seconds to survive until the end of it.

But the effort had taken too much out of him. With just a two week camp behind him his cardio was always going to be in question, and he had nothing left to give. McGregor started teeing off expertly, yet patiently. He picked his shots with laser like accuracy, a lovely uppercut followed by a left kick to the body. Mendes winced.

And then the end came. For all McGregor's flashiness, for all his eye catching techniques, it was bread and butter boxing that finished it. A right-left, 1-2 combo. The very first combination you learn in your very first boxing class. The jab caused Mendes' head to turn to the left, the thunderous left hand to Mendes' chin that followed caused him to fall. He turtled up, and McGregor pounced. He landed two more blows to a prone Mendes before Dean got in between the pair. McGregor was the UFC Interim Featherweight Champion.

At this point, I was standing on my couch, screaming. I have no doubt I woke up several neighbours, but it's their own fault, they should have been up watching it anyway.

You could see afterwards how much it meant to McGregor. He was drained. He was incredibly emotional. He was on his knees in the centre of the octagon, holding the tricolour, trying to process what had just happened. Mendes went and embraced the Dubliner, the bad blood between the two disappearing, in its place respect. McGregor raised Mendes' hand. It was a great moment.

The fight and its build up had left McGregor empty. As he stood there with a gold belt strapped around his waist, being interviewed by Joe Rogan, he let it all out.

"So much went on in the build up to this, I've travelled around the world twice [promoting this fight]", he said, with more than a hint of weariness in his voice. "The Irish people that support me, I swear to God, I did this for us".

You wouldn't begrudge McGregor some time off, but already the question being asked repeatedly is - what's next?

The obvious answer - Jose Aldo. A date of January 2nd is being mooted, in Las Vegas. A title unification bout, as Rogan says in the video above, will be the biggest fight in UFC history. I'm getting excited just thinking about it. 

And there's certainly no rest for the wicked - Dana White confirming last night that McGregor would coach on the next season of the Ultimate Fighter, coaching a European team of lightweight fighters against a USA team, led by Urijah Faber. (More on SevereMMA.com)

The pair won't fight at the end of the season, as is tradition, but it should certainly be spicy - they had an altercation on Friday before the weigh ins (the cynic in me is now thinking this was staged following last night's announcement).

If Aldo doesn't make it for the second time, the UFC have a ready made replacement in Urijah Faber waiting and ready to go. Which would be incredibly harsh on Frankie Edgar - he was overlooked in favour of Mendes this time around, and to be overlooked a second time would just be cruel. I'd love to see McGregor v Edgar. What a fight that would be.

But that's down the road. Ireland has a new world champion. It was a night no Irish MMA fan is going to forget in a hurry.

Other UFC 189 Thoughts

*UFC 189 was the best UFC card I think I've ever seen. The main card, anyway.

*The sight of Rory MacDonald's nose shattering after a Robbie Lawler punch will stay with me for a very long time. Ugh.

*Round of applause for Neil Seery - the Dubliner was beaten 30-27 on all three of the judges' scorecards by Louis Smolka but he fought like a warrior. Defended Smolka's attacks expertly throughout the 15 minutes.

*Cathal Pendred lost his first UFC fight, beaten on a split decision by John Howard. How one judge gave the fight to Pendred I will never know, as he was poor. Needs to find that killer instinct. Another defeat could see him cut by the UFC, as despite going 4-0 before Saturday night in the big show he really hasn't impressed.

*Flying knees! Flying knees for all!

*Gunnar Nelson has ice in his veins.

*Sinead O'Connor's rendition of the Foggy Dew while McGregor walked out was mesmerising. I'm getting goosebumps just thinking about it now.

*By comparison, Aaron Lewis was a bit shit.

*Actually, why was McGregor out first? I know I'll be told "it's because Mendes is higher ranked", but when did the UFC care for things like that? If we were going on "because that's the way it's always done" then Mendes and McGregor would have been the co-main event. It really was "The McGregor Show" - letting the guy who was only drafted in two weeks before the fight be top of the bill just stood out to me as odd. 

*Trying to sign up for UFC Fightpass is unnecessarily difficult.

*Chad Mendes was so humble in defeat that he endeared himself to all of McGregor's fans afterwards. Top class from him.

*UFC could probably have done a better job of capturing the atmosphere on their broadcast. Everyone in the arena said it was incredible, it just didn't translate too well on TV.

*CM Punk made friends with some lads from Cork

 

*Looking forward to UFC Glasgow on Saturday night - Joseph Duffy (still the last man to beat McGregor) and Paddy Holohan on the card.

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