– Paul Dollery reports from Las Vegas
IN SPITE OF fears that he may have suffered a fractured foot during his victory against Nate Diaz at the T-Mobile Arena, Conor McGregor has been cleared of any serious injuries.
McGregor, who required crutches after the fight, was taken to hospital in Las Vegas but the initial indications are that the Dubliner merely sustained bruising to his shin as a result of the many leg-kicks he landed over the five rounds of the UFC 202 main event.
“My ankle was actually a bit banged up coming into the fight,” McGregor said in the post-event press conference. “We were practicing leg-kicks in camp so it was a little bit swollen coming in, but it’s the shin. I kicked his knee clean — I think it was in the first round — and then I just kept kicking. But other than that it’s perfect.”
McGregor avenged his loss to Diaz last March by scoring a majority-decision victory last night. Both bouts were contested at welterweight, and while McGregor is interested in taking on the same opponent again, he wants the bout to take place at lightweight instead.
The 28-year-old will take a ‘never say never’ approach to competing in the 170lbs division again, while a clash with newly-crowned lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez may also be a possibility.
“I want to get my abs back,” said McGregor, the UFC featherweight title-holder. “I don’t have abs at this weight. I can’t get abs even though I’m eating good. Sometimes I feel I have a fat belly. I’m going to go down in weight. I’m the 145lbs champion. The 155lbs [title] is there.
“When I fight Nate again, it will be at 155lbs. It will be on my terms this time. I came up, I didn’t make any excuses or stipulations to try and get this win back. I had it exactly the way it was [in March]. He got even bigger than the first fight. He was way bigger than the last time. Over the five months he grew.
“I knew I was up against it. I thought it could be a mistake but I said, ‘Fuck it, I’ll train hard, be smart, learn from my mistakes and go in confident’. That’s what I did. I’m happy about that. I believe if we do it again, it will be at 155 — maybe for the belt. Who knows what’s next?”
But when asked if the trilogy match with Diaz will be his next fight, McGregor — who’s under pressure to defend his featherweight title — said: “Probably not. The belt situation is lingering. I’ve got to talk about what’s next because there’s a lot of options. Some might not be this sport, so we’ll see.”
As for a featherweight title defence against Jose Aldo, McGregor isn’t entirely certain that it will happen. The Irish fighter dethroned Aldo last December, but the Brazilian worked his way back into line for a rematch by defeating Frankie Edgar to win the interim title last month at UFC 200.
“How long was I going back and forth with Jose? That was a two-year build-up,” McGregor said. “He pulled out last minute and I continued to fight someone else. Then we rescheduled. A two-year build-up, around the world for that boy, and then I stepped in to beat him in 13 seconds.
“I mean, it’s hard for me to get excited about that, especially after his last performance. He didn’t go out and get it like I wanted him to. I don’t know. We’ll see. I’m the 145lbs champion. The interim champion is a man that I KO’d in 13 seconds. I’ve got to figure out what’s next, but right now I don’t know what’s next. There are many things in the pipeline, so sit tight.”
UFC president Dana White said earlier this week that a featherweight title bout would be next for McGregor once his second meeting with Diaz was out of the way. If not, he’ll have to vacate the belt, the UFC boss insisted. However, McGregor has a different take on the situation.
“I don’t think they want to do that,” he said. “How can they do that? If they want to do that, are they really going to give my belt to the guy that I KO’d in 13 seconds and bury that division on the prelims? That’s what would happen.
“We’ll see. How can they do that? What would that do to the division if the guy that I KO’d in 13 seconds is the champion? We’ve got a lot to talk about, but I’m in a beautiful, beautiful position now and that was built on hard work. I’m going to capitalise on that.
“We’ll see. I have other stuff in the pipeline. Shit is about to hit the fan, I feel, so we’ll see.”
Give Diaz the Alverez title shot at 155… Conor defend against Aldo… Then rematch for the 155 belt.
Definitely makes sense in principle, but my impression going back was that dropping to Featherweight was an increasingly demanding task for Conor taking a huge toll on his body. I would say 155 is where he’d be most comfortable from now on.
Two warriors, Im tired and i didnt even get off the couch!! Needs to be let be for a while though, Conor go down fight the bums. He put his body on the line and should get to decide whats next. Nate wo t fight anybody now incase he gets beat, Could be a long wait for Nate. Man has a granite chin!!
Declan, I agree. He should stay away from the welterweight division and fight at light weight which is more his natural weight.
It certainly won’t be Floyd anyway.
It was basically a boxing match. Except gassing out after 8 or 9 minutes and more importantly the awful boxing skills on show by both of these guys would have them eaten alive by any professional boxer.
Resembled a slug fest between two journeymen boxers who know the title will always be beyond them but love the sport so much they’ll battle it out to the bloody end.
The bloody mess that was their faces tells all you need to know about this fight.
But they’re not boxers, they’re mixed martial artists. And they fought and defended according to the rules of mixed martial arts. Neither of them played into the hands of the other and it was close fought.
In boxing terms that is – in MMA terms it was a great fight, although Conor refusing the advantage to engage with Diaz when he knocked him to the ground and finish the contest instead urging him to his feet kept made it resemble a boxing match more then an MMA fight.
Fair comment! I half thought that about letting him get back up, but I also think Conor was just conpletely avoiding taking Nate on in a wrestling match. Conor had his advantage on his feet in the open. Nate had the advantage at close quarters. Even with Nate going down first it was a risk.
Avoiding a grappling match was a wise move.
Conor played it right and has the title back to prove it. That’s all that matters at the end of the day I suppose.
It was a bruising encounter, a thoroughly genuine fight.
Fair play to them both.
James, and a prof. boxer would be eaten alive in an mma fight. It should be compromise rules and not just one style to suit one fighter.
Wow, that point went over your head anyway.
I’m not saying boxing is better than MMA. I’m saying with Conor wanting to box Floyd it showed that he would get eaten alive as this was in large part a boxing match and a very bad one at that, with terribly conditioned men.
And by the logic of your last statement, all sports should be merged into one?
Boxing is dead
To the bandwagon MMA fan in Ireland, yes.
Boxing in the USA and UK continues to trump UFC numbers-wise consistently and that will never change. (Canelo, GGG, Joshua, etc.)
While i agree that floyd would beat conor at boxing, to say that these lads are not conditioned well is a rediculous comment. Kicks,elbows, punches,wrestling and more. 5 minute rounds. Absolutely savage conditioning on behalf of both fighters.
Bandwagon doesn’t mean anything. The UFC is a new organisation and Conor McGregor an even newer competitor. If your view is that unless you were a McGregor fan from the start you’re a bandwagon hopper then his coach wouldn’t even make the cut.
Awful conditioning on McGregor’s part especially, considering there are heavyweights who can go for 5 rounds and throw bombs until the final bell.
Canelo can’t crack 500k PPV buys unless he’s fighting Floyd. GGG can’t get over 200k. Conor get 1 million plus every fight since Mendes.
James, wow my comment went way over your head. Anyway, a boxer has to train in boxing only. Period. An mma fighter has to spread his time over boxing, jujitsu, wrestling, kickboxing etc. Both fighters chose to box because they both know they wanted it that way. Boxing has 3 minute rounds and for half that time they are not hitting each other until the ref breaks them up. In mma you have to defend yourself against all types of attacks like grappling for example which is extremely draining.
Is McGregor the only fighter in the UFC?
I’m talking about consistency – obviously McGregor is getting big PPV buys, but he is the only one. There are at least 5 boxers who can crack 500k buys. There are none beyond McGregor and possibly Jones and if you want to count Lesnar in UFC.
But the really telling tale is the non PPV fight cards every other week of the year. Boxing wins that battle every day, all day long.
You have no clue man, give it up. Boxing is one of the most pure natural sports and has been around since before our great grandfathers could watch it.
New MMA fans trying to belittle a sport that the UFC learned everything from for their shows is pure blasphemy.
You have clearly never watched a boxing match if you think every fight is non stop holding. We can even compare these 2 fighters stamina to other MMA fighters and even heavier MMA fighters can go full pace for much longer.
Ha! Blasphemy…
The UFC is a new organisation? Haha.
I’m talking about people who only started watching for and still only watch for McGregor. And would likely stop watching if McGregor or nobody was prominent in the organisation from Ireland.
These people don’t get an opinion on MMA let alone boxing, they know jack s**t about either sport.
https://youtu.be/G4vqm20vb-Q
…link for the fight.
Pro boxer’s would gas out early as well if they were using 4oz gloves
Why would he fight at 145 again? He has nothing to gain and a perfect record to lose. Give them back their belt and go at the 155 pounders