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DatIrishFella

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Mendes said before the fight that he was in the best shape of his life, so why are people questioning his cardio? It was Conor who zapped away his energy.
 

sullydnl

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Whatever about his stamina, deciding to go for the submission is what really cost Mendes. He was so comfortable where he was, he should have just kept pounding McGregor on the ground. Made a bad decision and was then too gassed when he got up, whereas McGregor stayed calm, took what he had to take and finished it when he had the chance.
 

Pogue Mahone

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As in, they had to pony up an opponent to protect their event. Alternatively, Dana and Lorenzo could've moved the fight to the next UFC when Aldo would be ready to fight, but they had already invested too much hype into this event and needed the PPV yield to be realized. If it was anyone other than Conor, they could've easily moved this to 191 in early Sep.
Siver was a sacrificial lamb to keep the McGregor title challenge campaign on track. Mendes was a huge threat. No way was he picked as someone McGregor could walk through en route to the next big PPV. There was every chance he could have lost and he nearly did.
 

Manny

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This was Rory shortly after the fight...


Edit: might have to right-click> open in new tab to get it to work... :confused:
 
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justboy68

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Finally got a chance to watch it. Boy what a great main card! The prelims sucked balls but that always seems to result in the main card being class. Congrats Irish fans, your boy really fought through adversity and got it done. It's true that his power is just off the charts for that Featherweight division and everyone there will struggle to deal with it. The Aldo fight will be absolutely huge and honestly I'd have to give McGregor the edge at this point even though I rate Aldo as an all time great.

Now for the other title fight.. Jesus, Mary and Joseph what a brawl. I legitimately worried for a second that Rory was in serious serious trouble when he went down like he did and that gif above is sickly. Robbie Lawlor is an absolute gladiator at this point. Scary scary dude. I'm a huge fan of his but I thought Rory was going to edge it over him this time round and to his credit he made a real go of it despite being almost dead on his feet. Literally.

Quick word for Thomas Almeida too. I was surprised by how shoddy he was in the first round but I'm still uber confident he is a future Bantamweight champ. That flying knee ko was a thing of beauty.

P.S Conor's chin is a godsend for him btw. While he's giving it out he doesn't half get tagged in return. Shook them off really well though. Those counters from Mendes could have been potential fight enders against many blokes in that division.
 

Manny

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By the way, have any of you ever watched a better card? Insane.
I've been watching MMA since UFC 75 and that for me has to be in the top 3 cards I've seen. I'm struggling to remember a better one. The fights, the finishes, the crowd, even Sinead and the fresh production.

Dana White said something along the lines of, it was the most promoted/hyped cards they've put on and the fighters over-delivered. Couldn't agree more.
 

shabz

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By the way, have any of you ever watched a better card? Insane.
The Sydney card last year was great because every fight was a finish including prelims. But for actual excitement and competitive fights apart from Nelson/Thatch this is probably the best card I've seen since I started watching the UFC.
 

JP77

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TUF Finale starts in a minute (well the prelims first). Don't expect anything on the level of last night but I'm tuning in for Waterson's debut and the ME might be decent too.
 

PhilipB

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It was definitely up there.

Just watching the Lawler v McDonald fight again. That stare down at the end of the 4th might be the baddest thing I've ever seen.
My mum is with my brother in Australia, she is visiting at the moment and even they had somehow heard about the hype of McGregor and wanted to watch the fights. So I texted my bro telling him how to set it all up to watch on a stream etc. Anyway, the thought of my poor mum watching Rory vs Robbie just tear into each other, not understanding any of this crazy shit she's seeing right now makes me kind of laugh. My brother told me she couldn't look at the screen after the 2nd round.
 

PhilipB

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The Sydney card last year was great because every fight was a finish including prelims. But for actual excitement and competitive fights apart from Nelson/Thatch this is probably the best card I've seen since I started watching the UFC.
It was surely one of the greatest, greatest one I've watched anyway,.

Highlights for me were Robbie and Rory staring at each other covered in blood, and when McGregor turned round to lookat Sinead O'connor and she raised her arm.Obviousy I loved all the fights but I loved that moment.
 

JP77

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Feck, didn't think that was being shown, bloody exhausted too......
Cards fecking everywhere mate. Mir/Duffee on Wednesday and then the Glasgow show on Saturday with Bisping. Pretty awesome week of fights. Then the big rematch (Barao/Dillashaw) the weekend after and then Rousey/Correia the weekend after that :drool:
 

Name Changed

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Whatever about his stamina, deciding to go for the submission is what really cost Mendes. He was so comfortable where he was, he should have just kept pounding McGregor on the ground. Made a bad decision and was then too gassed when he got up, whereas McGregor stayed calm, took what he had to take and finished it when he had the chance.
He was gassed. McGregor would have done the same at the start of round three.
 

Raoul

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Interesting, never saw this a couple of weeks ago. Explains a lot about the logic of him moving up to 155 in the near future and why the Aldo fight wasn't delayed (because Conor would've had to cut weight to 145 twice in an 8 week period). He should just move up to 155 and take on the Diaz brothers and the like. Conor v Nick Diaz would be an epic spectacle.

 

Man of Leisure

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Interesting, never saw this a couple of weeks ago. Explains a lot about the logic of him moving up to 155 in the near future and why the Aldo fight wasn't delayed (because Conor would've had to cut weight to 145 twice in an 8 week period). He should just move up to 155 and take on the Diaz brothers and the like. Conor v Nick Diaz would be an epic spectacle.
Isn't Nick Diaz a welterweight? He's 6 ft tall.
 

cacs

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Don't give me the cardio crap and 2 weeks notice. McGregor kicked the lungs out of Mendes. Nothing to do with his cardio fitness. Mendes isn't giving excuses, so don't make them for him. McGregor was training all camp for a different opponent, so essentially only had 2 weeks to prepare for his so called weakness or the type of fighter he was avoiding.
 

Raoul

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Don't give me the cardio crap and 2 weeks notice. McGregor kicked the lungs out of Mendes. Nothing to do with his cardio fitness. Mendes isn't giving excuses, so don't make them for him. McGregor was training all camp for a different opponent, so essentially only had 2 weeks to prepare for his so called weakness or the type of fighter he was avoiding.
Yep no excuses. Taking a fight on 2 weeks notice is completely the same as training several months.
 

DatIrishFella

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On a more serious note, what in the world am I doing staying up for this TUF event. I'm absolutely shattered here. Wonderboy better deliver!
 

George Owen

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this next fight looks promising

cmon Kamaru!

edit:

yes! totally dominant victory by the nigerian nightmare Kamanu Usman. one to keep an eye on.
 
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cacs

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Yep no excuses. Taking a fight on 2 weeks notice is completely the same as training several months.
With Aldo's history of pulling out of fights, you are honestly telling me Mendes wasn't preparing to fight McGregor (or Aldo) as a backup. McGregor flew around the world twice while trying to train.

Mendes took the fight and most said he would beat McGregor. Surely they knew he only had "two weeks" training before they made their predictions?