Following the conclusion of the blockbuster Floyd Mayweather vs Conor McGregor superfight, many fans want to hear from McGregor to understand what he went through for ten rounds against boxing’s best. Never at a loss for words, UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor spoke to Megan Olivi and gave his take on the fight.
“I don’t know, I thought I lost a match, I don’t think I lost a fight. I lost a match, I thought his composure was very impressive. (Despite) his speed and his power, I thought the early rounds were mine handily. I thought I hurt him in the first, picking him apart up until the third. The first four rounds I thought were mine. Maybe you give him one in the first four, then he took over five, six, seven. I think I won the eighth, he won nine, and then the tenth.”
Here's our full interview with @thenotoriousmma who credits Floyd and ponders what he could've done differently! https://t.co/dcg8wXb3sI
— FOX Sports: UFC (@UFCONFOX) August 27, 2017
Conor McGregor explains his downfall
Recognizing a lack of stamina, McGregor said he wasn’t used to fighting 12 rounds.
“There’s always a patch in my fights where I’m like, I go through this fatigue stage and I just come through it. It’s not damage I’m feeling, I wasn’t wobbled, I wasn’t rocked. You know what I mean? Even the final stoppage. One of them snapped the head back and then three more after that, the two were glancing (shots).
“I would have liked to get back into the corner. Even in the training and the build-up, I had those eight, nine, ten (rounds) that were kind of iffy rounds. But then when I saw the finish line, when I saw 11 and 12, I came back alive. I knew there were only six minutes left and I pushed it again. So I feel like if I got through that 10th round, I could have gotten my composure again. You know what I mean? But what can you do?
“They stopped it and I thought the ref did a great job. I thought Floyd was really composed. That’s basically it. He had composure. I don’t think he had the speed in hand, I just think he was composed. He picked the shots right, he bounced my shots off him right. That’s what experience will get you, that’s what 50 pro fights will get you.”
Conor McGregor talks about his gameplan coming into the bout
McGregor reveals that the entire camp was centered at making sure he would last long enough to see the end of the fight.
“It was more to get used to 12 rounds. I’ve never done 12 rounds before, so just getting adjusted to that was a big factor. Even in the sparring rounds, I was super slick in the early rounds. The first three or four rounds were always mine. I start to kind of get fatigued in eight, nine, ten, iffy rounds for me, but then I’d always get that second wind in the 11th and 12th. And I was taking over again. I didn’t get to the 11th and 12th so, I don’t know.
“He took the smacks well and he stayed composed. I could see a little bit of panic in his eyes early on, but he absorbed them and stayed in it so fair play to him.
“I was thinking of 12 rounds, of course. When you get through the first six, I’m like, there’s another six to go. So I always had that iffy rounds after the sixth. But then I’d see the finish line again, 10, 11, and 12. I’d get that second wind again. Of course, it was a 12-rounder. I’m not used to it. That was what the focus of the camp was — the adjustment to 12, three-minute rounds.”
McGregor says if this was MMA, he would have ended the fight the moment he took Mayweather’s back
McGregor is of course, right. If this were MMA, Mayweather would be out cold from an RNC.
“I should have just kept my hands up and stayed in tight. But I don’t know, whatever. He did well, what can I say? I don’t know (if I’ve earned the respect of the boxing community), I can’t tell you that. I went in there and I thought I did better than most of them against him. They’re saying I won more rounds than anyone has won against him. I thought I was hitting him clean. He was catching some snapbacks. I was catching him with the jab clean and his head was snapping back many times.
“I just said ‘fairplay, I thought I had you in the early rounds but you kept your composure. You’re a composed man and you got the win. Nothing but respect.’ and then I was like, ‘but when I got your back those times, it could have been over there and then.’,” laughed McGregor, alluding to the possibility of a rear-naked choke.
“That was what killed me I think, because I blew energy taking his back. And then the referee separates us. I enjoyed it though, very much. The whole build-up was completely different.”
If he survived the 10th, McGregor feels the outcome would be different
“If I got through that tenth round, he has to deal with his energy. If you think of the Diaz 2 fight, I had that little wobbly stage, and then he (Diaz) blew his muck. That’s what I was thinking, if we had got to that corner, and got my composure back. Then I’m thinking he (Mayweather) is out there throwing a lot of shots, and I’m still here. Now it’s him that has to deal with his energy. So that’s why I was a bit upset that it got stopped like that. Unless I go down, you know what I mean? He’s not a powerful puncher, he’s composed but he’s not powerful. That shouldn’t have been stopped, I really don’t think.”
“I have no clue (where to go from here), I don’t know. Who else wants it? Who’s next? I don’t give a bollocks, I’ve got multiple world titles in the UFC and I know they want to see me back here as well. So I don’t know. I’ll tell you where I’ll go though, back to figuring out where I went wrong. Back to adjusting to forward pressure.
“At range, no one can beat me. Nobody can touch me. It’s when he (Mayweather) put his hands up to his ears and put his forehead on my chest. And I’m blowing shots off his arms. That’s what kind of got me. I tried to peel the glove down and I hit him a few times with that. But he’s composed and that’s it. I’m going to get better at that. That’s what Floyd had to adjust to the first four rounds, because he had to do that. He was getting picked off. I’m going to get better at that. And then come back, that’s it.”
