Chad Mendes: Conor McGregor will get knocked out, tapped out or just cry for five rounds

When Chad Mendes got the call from UFC president Dana White asking if he'd be willing to play backup for featherweight champion Jose Aldo in case of injury and be ready to face Conor McGregor on July 11, the No. 1-ranked fighter at 145 pounds didn't blink and immediately asked for a contract to sign.

From that moment forward, Mendes has been training and preparing as if he was going to face McGregor while never knowing if Aldo would stay in the fight or not after he suffered a rib injury in training last week.

On Tuesday night, while Mendes was going through a striking session with his coaches, he got the news he had been waiting for. But it didn't get delivered by phone call, email or messenger pigeon. Mendes found out the same way so many fans did: via social media.

"I just found out maybe two or three hours ago," Mendes told FOX Sports on Tuesday night after the news was official. "I was actually training and my girlfriend was at the gym and I was hitting mitts and she interrupted the workout and goes, 'It's official!' and we all stopped and looked and she was holding up her phone and it was posted on Instagram. That's basically how I found out.

"Since I found out I was the backup, I knew I was fighting Conor. Nothing has changed in my mind except it's gone public. I'm excited. This is a huge opportunity and something I've worked my entire life for. I'm not passing this up."

The obvious questions that Mendes will deal with non-stop between now and July 11 will be those regarding his readiness to face a fighter like McGregor with only about two weeks to prepare.

A six- or eight-week training camp is preferred, but Mendes promises that he's going to walk into the Octagon on July 11 with the same kind of fervor and fire he shows in all his fights.

In other words, McGregor is in trouble.

"I've got two weeks to get as sharp as I can," Mendes said. "I live a healthy lifestyle, so I'm in pretty decent shape year-round. I've been hitting it hard (since) as soon as I found out. So I'm just kind of fine-tuning it now, but I'll stay injury free and get that weight down. You guys should see the original O.G. Chad Mendes get in there on July 11 and whoop some ass."

The moment Aldo's injury was announced, oddsmakers instilled McGregor as a slight favorite in the fight, although the two fighters had bounced back and forth ever since the fight first came together. When Mendes entered the conversation, betting experts immediately placed him as the favorite and the former NCAA All-American knows why.

For all the great things Aldo has done during his career, Mendes knows stylistically he's just a nightmare for a guy like McGregor to deal with, and the Irishman's got only two weeks to figure out how to go from a Muay Thai kickboxer with long reach and leg kicks to a shorter, compact wrestler with explosive takedowns and knockout power in both hands.

"I guarantee it," Mendes answered when asked if he's a tougher matchup for McGregor. "We all know Aldo's a super athlete, very dangerous stand-up, but those are the type of guys that Conor does the best with. We have not seen him with many fighters that have the wrestling, that have the explosiveness to get inside and close the distance on him. The fights that I've seen him lose, those guys were able to get him down on the ground.

Chad Mendes is already picturing this same scenario at UFC 189.

"That right there I feel is a huge hole. I think my style with my wrestling, my athleticism, my speed, and the ability to knock somebody out, the power in my hands, I feel like that's a shittier fight for him."

The moment the fight was announced, McGregor wasted no time turning his attention and his silver tongue toward Mendes by saying that this fight would end the same way the one with Aldo was going to go: it would be over inside of four minutes of the first round.

Mendes can't help but laugh at the prediction, and he's got one of his own for McGregor. It actually comes with three options, and none of them is good for the cocky Irishman.

"I see myself beating this guy three ways," Mendes explained. "I'm either going to knock him unconscious because he drops his hands a ton and gets lazy in there. I'm going to take him down and submit him because he gives up. Or I'm going to have him on his back crying for his mama for five five-minute rounds, beating the crap out of him. I'm good with all three of them."

McGregor hasn't faced much adversity through his first five fights in the UFC, but he does have two career losses on his record that speak volumes to Mendes. On both occasions, McGregor was submitted in the first round with neither fight making it to the two-minute mark.

Mendes sees that as a huge detriment not only to McGregor's ground game, but also to his ability to escape bad situations. McGregor is deadly when he's in control, but Mendes can't wait to push him into deep water to see just how well this frontrunner can swim.

"Those two fights were dead giveaways to that," Mendes said. "We haven't seen him get tested at all in the UFC yet, but we haven't seen him face somebody with the ability to push the pace, to wrestle, to grapple, to explode in and out. This is going to be a huge test for Conor."

Mendes knows he's going to have to endure a swarm of McGregor barbs between now and fight night. Mendes already has felt the brunt of McGregor's verbal attacks, and he's undeterred.

Mendes sees this fight as a gift and a huge chance to not only win the featherweight title, but also to silence a loudmouth braggart in the process. So Mendes invites McGregor to go crazy and wide-eyed, spew as much venom at him as he wants, because when UFC 189 is over he says McGregor will discover the luck of the Irish has run out.

"I feel like a kid who just walked downstairs on Christmas morning," Mendes said. "This is something that is so awesome to me right now. So listening to a guy like Conor hype this fight up, he's going to be running his mouth and talking all kinds of trash and that's something I'm expecting; it's no big surprise. It's what got him here today. It's what made him go from a no-name to in a couple years being a superstar.

"Let him say whatever the hell he wants. I'm going to sit there and smile because I know in my mind I'm going to get in there and whoop this dude's ass. This is a huge payday for me and it's all because of his mouth so let's get after it."