The Mayweather Fight
A boxing novice, many questioned McGregor’s decision to fight one of the best of all time in Floyd Mayweather Jr. But McGregor was following a time-honored martial arts tradition by viewing it as a chance to test his skills at the highest level in a different form of combat sports.
When you consider that the fighter and his coach John Kavanagh’s mantra is to, “win or learn,” it makes even more sense. It gave him invaluable experience at a level of boxing competition no other MMA fighter has reached.
It certainly proved to be a learning experience for McGregor. Mayweather’s own exceptionally high fight IQ and years of elite boxing experience led to him gradually outboxing ‘The Notorious’ to earn a 10th-round TKO stoppage victory.
“Anytime you put yourself into an uncomfortable situation, you will grow as a person,” McGregor reflected afterward. “That’s what happened to me.”
Even so, it is to McGregor’s credit that he actually put up more of a fight than most pundits had expected. He landed clean punches against the defensive mastermind.
“He’s a hell of a fighter standing up — he kind of shocked me,” Mayweather admitted at the post-fight press conference.
And though Mayweather’s camp correctly gamepplanned for McGregor’s cardio eventually being his downfall, he actually lasted longer than they thought.
“My dad thought it was going to go a little bit earlier around the seventh or the sixth, but it took us a little longer than expected,” Mayweather revealed.
