Saturday night at MGM Grand in Las Vegas, McGregor (17-2) faces a test of putting his might where his mouth when the UFC’s third-ranked featherweight meets top-ranked Chad Mendes (17-2) of Sacramento for the division’s interim championship.
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McGregor doesn’t take kindly to that and suddenly he looks to arm drag his fellow fighter and go for a double, but Faber counters and pushes him up against a nearby wall.
Conor told Michael Landsberg on TSN’s Off the Record: “So it f***ed my head up because this little kid is in Ireland and I’m telling the kid I’m going to take this belt and I’m going to you, .. and I would have flew him out here to Vegas”. Lawler credits his sparring at American Top Team with allowing him to prepare well for any opponent – it remains to be seen if that will be enough against the versatile MacDonald.
The Irish invaded the MGM with green, white and orange flags covering the premises.
McGregor appears spectacular against strikers, such as Dennis Siver, Diego Brandao, and Dustin Poirier.
Who wins the Conor McGregor-Chad Mendes main event at UFC 189, and how?
Mendes said he senses a fraud.
My prediction is that Mendes takes McGregor down early and often.
And verbally laying into his opponents is nothing new for McGregor, a slick-talking Irishman who knows how to sell a fight, but Mendes does serve as a significant roadblock to McGregor’s meteoric rise to UFC’s peak.
McGregor has been insulting Mendes since he came into the UFC.
No one got along at the weigh-in. Hughes, a two-time UFC welterweight champ, was inducted as a fighter in 2010.
MacDonald has been someone that has been groomed to be a champion for years.
Lawler, too, is confident that he’s got MacDonald figured out even though he’s never defended his title before.
“I’m not anxious about being the underdog”, Lawler said. When I look at him, I see fatigue and inefficiency. “Thanks for coming”. But despite taking the fight on about 10 days’ notice, he seemed far less drained by the weight cut then McGregor. With every fight, his array of kicks becomes more versatile and less predictable, which sets up the shot he truly wishes to land in the left hand.
Fellow welterweight Brandon Thatch, who will fight Gunnar Nelson Saturday night, agreed with Florian.
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Irish undercard fighters Cathal Pendred (171) and Neil Seery (125.5) received the next loudest reactions.
