Revisiting Chad Mendes' assessment of Conor McGregor ahead of UFC 189
Some months back we interviewed Chad Mendes and asked about his next fight. At the time, that was an April main event against Ricardo Lamas, which "Money" would go on to win impressively.
Near the tail end of the conversation we couldn't resist asking Mendes to chime in on the coming matchup between featherweight champ Jose Aldo and challenger Conor McGregor.
Mendes has twice fought and lost to Aldo in title fights, and he (along with the rest of the featherweight division) seemed to be salivating at the chance to fight McGregor -- who, after all, had yet to face a great wrestler like the Team Alpha Male member. So, it was surprising when Mendes gave McGregor some high marks.
Now that Mendes himself is set to face McGregor at UFC 189 as a replacement for the injured champion, Chad's evaluation of Conor still seems pertinent. "Aldo is a great fighter and he's been the champion for a long time, but I think Conor is a tough matchup for him," he said.
Though there is no love lost between Mendes and McGregor, who have traded barbs over recent months, the 30-year-old can't deny that the Irishman posesses some strong attributes.
"McGregor is a Southpaw, which can be tricky to deal with. He also uses his length very well," he continued.
"He's got good power with his straight cross, and he has good timing. Overall, he's a good athlete, as well."
Mendes no doubt believes that he's a better match up with McGregor than Aldo was. It will still be interesting to see how the last-minute replacement will deal with all those formidable traits of McGregor's that he listed to us a few months ago.
