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Who will win?

***OFFICIAL***Conor McGregor vs. Chad Mendes Thread

39K views 428 replies 79 participants last post by  No_Mercy 
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#116 ·
You are weird. The boy has made himself famous with his big disrespectful mouth. He's a clown. Why shouldn't we treat him like a clown? Why would we treat him any better than he treats his fellow fighters? No reason I can think of.


Brendon schaub had an interesting point of view

"I think he's terrified," he says.
"I think the one fight that he did not want -- it happened."
Schaub explained the fact that Mendes the wrestler is so different a fighter than Aldo the striker means McGregor will face a completely different challenge on Saturday in Las Vegas than he had been preparing for, for months. Additionally, Mendes' power punching and wrestling skills make him the best fighter McGregor has ever faced, according to "The Hybrid."
"Every fight Conor has had has been a great matchup for him. This is the first fight where you're like, 'Oh....' You're talking about the No. 1 ranked guy in the world, and there's a reason why Conor McGregor leapfrogged him for a title shot. Chad Mendes is a nightmare for him," he said.
"The thing about Conor is he does get hit in fights. He does get hit. Who is the hardest hitter in the division? Chad Mendes. So, if he hits ya, it's not going to be as much fun as getting hit by Dennis Siver and Diego Brandao."
Despite his public bravado, Schaub says that McGregor and his team likely tried to get out of UFC 189 after Aldo pulled out with injured ribs. "I don't give a fu-- what his camp says, what the media says, I promise you they put up a fight not to fight Chad Mendes. I promise you they did," he said.

"I would bet my entire life savings that his camp was like, 'nope,' and the UFC said, 'this is what we've got. You're taking this fight. Jose backed out. Conor, you have to take this fight.'
Schaub thinks the world of McGregor, but simply believes that Mendes is a bad match up for the Dubliner. Schaub agrees with Kenny Florian that Mendes is so dangerous because he uses his takedowns to set up his big punches.
"How is Conor going to react when he's down two rounds to nothing? All the sh-- he does, I love it, man. I'm a Conor fan. You know this. I love the guy, so this is not a knock on Conor," he began.
"But, I don't know how he's going to react when he's getting punched in the face, he's on the bottom of half guard and things are not pretty. You're not on your feet doing...cool kicks. The crowd is going 'oh sh--. Everything we thought is happening right now. Chad is grinding him out, taking him down.' Now you're down three rounds. How are you going to respond?"
If Schaub were a betting man, he believes that McGregor will respond by getting faked out by a takedown attempt, then knocked out by a Mendes right hand. "I bet you see Chad end this fight via TKO by a fake shot with a huge overhand right," he predicted.
 
#120 ·
I like McGregor. The top-5 talent is undeniable and I'll watch every fight he's in. He's a disrespectful blowhard, but that's part of the fun. Who cares?

I just have a nagging feeling - an instinct, if you will - that Mendes is going to win this fight, by stoppage. McGregor does get hit, cleanly and often. And Mendes is a tough SOB. I think Conor shoulders a mountain of embarrassment after this. Not for his performance or getting outclassed or anything like that, but for losing to the B-level fighter after all that smack he talked.
 
#122 ·
I think Schaub isn't too far away from being right here, whilst there's no guarantees in MMA this is exactly what Mendes will be looking to do. It's all about Conor's TDD, IF (big if) Conor can keep him off he can beat him up, sap his will and finish him. I just don't know if his TDD is ready though, plus with the added risk of Mendes' power it just makes this a great fight.

I do like Conor however if I was one of these big Conor fans you could do worse than prepare for this kind of outcome, because you could be seeing McGregors KO face this saturday.
 
#128 ·
If Schaub was talking about Frankie then I might agree with you alright. I think Frankie is much more capable of keeping a guy down round after round and nullifying. I don't rate Mendez nearly as highly in terms of wrestling or footwork. He has one weapon to win this fight in my eyes which is his power, but he is limited with that now because of his reach against someone with a an 8 inch advantage. I honestly think he has a 1 in 10 or 15 chance in landing a power punch to win the fight, but thats about it.
 
#123 ·
Mendez might have a powerful overhand right, but Conor has power from all angles. A lot of focus on Conor getting hit, but its not like Mendez is unlikely to eat a few of Conors best.

This fight is full of questions. Now that the Aldo thing has died down, im more then happy with the match-up. ( not so chuffed with having an interim though. ) I just hope its not over quick. I would love some back and forth. Although the WW title fight beforehand is likely to provide me with plenty of that.
 
#124 ·
Conor is the 2-1 betting favourite, has scores of admirers, casuals are almost expecting a 1st round TKO.

This is Man Utd Vs Stoke, except Stoke have been taken over by a Sheik and signed Messi and not told anyone yet.

This is a great fight, trying to play up McGregors strengths is like preaching to the converted, been done to death, go check the multiple UFC specials.
 
#125 ·
Mendes got beat twice by Aldo. If McMuffin can follow a similar playbook, he could get a victory as well. Considering Aldo and Mc are not fighting, this could probably clear up quite a bit about the difference, if any, between Aldo and Mc.

Then again, MMA math is a fickle thing ...
 
#127 ·
I'm really hoping Conor wins just for the sake of the division. The Aldo fight was supposed to be the biggest and best thing to ever happen to the featherweight division since it was added to the UFC. If Conor wins now, he'll silence a lot of doubters and ride an even bigger hype train into the Aldo fight (whenever that happens). If he loses, Mendez will get a rematch, Jose will win again, and no one will watch it. Then the featherweights will fade right back into obscurity.

All that said WAR MCGREGOR!
 
#129 ·
With the kind of power Mendes has... he has so many options here, Conor will obviously be focused on his TDD, and he is already pretty open to strikes... i can see the old duck for a takedown followed by a strike as they go to defend.

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#132 ·
I'm with gazh. I think Chad Mendes has the fight ending power to stop McGregor, while Frankie would be more about trying to use his hands to set up his wrestling. Conor won't give a shit about Frankie's punches. He'll drop his hands and eat them all day. One thing people don't give enough credit to is how much power you take from a punch when you see it coming. That's how Nick Diaz does it, that's how Anderson Silva did it. Weidman got Silva by doubling up on the punch and Anderson was in too much mindfuk zone to expect anything. Conor would do that with Frankie's shots I believe, and I think he'd time Frankie coming in with straight punches and even stop him.

Chad Mendes for me is another animal. He doesnt have the outside footwork of Frankie so he wants to stand on your toes. He'll try to use the Mike Tyson style of punching, keep his head low and dodge the shots and then counter with a big overhand (Tyson used the uppercut mostly but whatever). If he can put that power on Conor early, I think he'll switch to his wrestling much easier. The most important think for Conor is to bully Chad. Take the centre, push him back at all times, be the biggest fighter. If Chad is on the back foot, his takedowns become predictable and Conor has all the space in the world to take a step back and rocket back in with a counter.

Taking away with Chad's achievements is stupid to me. Aside from beating Cub and Lamas....why aside from those? Conor McGregor's never even been in the cage with someone as good as those (Jose's fault tbh, he should have done the staredown :D) Clay Guida might not be the greatest ever but he wouldn't be too far down the ladder from Dustin Poirier. Plus, you have to take the second Aldo fight into account. Even though some bollocks around here was trying to act like Chad was getting his arse kicked, that fight was insane and Chad stayed right in the pocket with the current p4p champ. Chad Mendes is legit. I don't see any shame in Conor McGregor losing to Chad, but if he was to win then it would be more than valid to have him as a favourite against Edgar for me and not too far off from Aldo (legitimately, screw those sites having Conor as the favourite).
 
#135 ·
Chad's an emotional fighter. This plays into Conor's game. Chad charges in like what I envision then Conor is going to angle off and counter. He has a sideway stance, not the easiest to catch with a takedown or punch. If and when Conor establishes his zone/distance/timing then Chad's in for a short night.

First 30 seconds will dictate the fight. I believe Chad will rush in to close in the distance immediately. Most of the time there is a feeling out process. I'm not sure I see that here. Mendes is legit, but he did get knocked out by Aldo by foolishly letting his guard down when he was grappling. Mendes swings wildly and takes time to recoil. I see massive combinations while there, but ultimately I think it'll be a kick to the throat/head that will rattle Chad in route to a TKO.
 
#136 ·
I see Conor using his reach and movement to pick Chad apart at his range. Conor's cocky, but he's not stupid. He's not going to just stand in the pocket and bang with someone with Mendez's power.
Also, everyone questions his wrestling, but people always seem to forget: just because we haven't seen his ground game doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
 
#137 ·
It's like people just forget the Nik Lentz fight ever happened with Mendes. An awful fight which highlighted just how rudimentary Mendes' ground skills actually are. Compare how Oliveira fought on the ground with Lentz and then watch the Mendes fight. This guy has NOTHING, nothing on the ground. He lies in full guard and does....NOTHING.

No guard passing skills, subs, ground and pound, feck all. If Conor was facing a GSP prototype or someone liked Edgar I'd be more worried, but he isn't - he's facing a guy who swings short hooks on the inside (somewhere Conor doesn't fight) and has a power double leg take down.

Then there's the fact that he's so small compared to McGregor and the reach advantage is comical. The size difference is going to be enormous.

Mendes is going to get hurt with body kicks and then finished with a sniping left as he tries to lunge in.
 
#150 ·
If by tentative you mean flawless balletic footwork yóu would be right! That spinning wheel kick or whatever it is that he does looks alot faster than it used to
 
#153 ·
...Conor has very good TDD much like Aldo's. Conor's striking, unorthodox footwork and range control will be the biggest factors. He will light up Chad with his jab, straights and stellar kicks that will most likely will catch Chad flush. McGregor's chin is way better than Mendes' and if Conor forces any exchanges, Chad will get rocked and dropped. Mendes will fold under Conor's relentless pressure. TKO finish for Notorious by the 3 rd. If not, a convincing UD for sure...
 
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