Conor McGregor Makes History At UFC 189, Mounts Comeback To Win Interim Title

Conor McGregor won. The UFC won. Dana White won, Jose Aldo won, and all of their respective bank accounts also won.

Chad Mendes may have technically lost, but he's a bigger name in his UFC 189 Interim Featherweight Title loss to Conor McGregor than he probably could have been winning the UFC Title without him. For two rounds, Mendes look like he bottled the outspoken Irishman. For those 10 minutes, Mendes managed big takedowns and controlled McGregor on the ground.

McGregor completely handled Mendes on the feet. When McGregor went inside the pocket, Mendes would make him pay as he typically does when his opponents make that mistake, but McGregor was masterful at range. The number 3-ranked McGregor was fearless of Mendes' outstanding wrestling, throwing kicks during the duration of the bout on the feet. Mendes would eventually make him pay by grounding him and scoring several big shots on the ground.

McGregor made little to no effort to get back to his feet, even being admonished by referee Herb Dean when he inquired about the fight being stood up. All of that changed when McGregor escaped a signature Team Alpha Male guillotine choke and crumbled Mendes on his way to a stoppage with three seconds left in the round.

The crowd was unreal, as a giant contingent of Irish fans made the trip over to support McGregor. Almost lost in this whole situation was that McGregors original opponent, UFC Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo, backed out of the planned fight due to a rib injury. All of the hype built for that fight is back front and center, as the Aldo-McGregor bout will be even bigger than originally anticipated.

McGregor didn't back down from his demeanor.

"I've been hearing all this time that I've been protected from this style of opponent," said McGregor. "That I've been gifted a title shot. So when my title shot went running, and I was given the challenge I was supposed to be protected from, I knew I was going to prove to people I was the true fighter."

McGregor also said that he would have no problem if the fight went five rounds, and had plenty of energy.

"I knew I could go all f-cking day," said McGregor "I knew if he got me down I could keep going. I knew, I worked him with the body, and the precision of the left hand. No one can take that left hand."

Conor McGregor will now likely take on Jose Aldo later in the year in a UFC Featherweight Unification bout. You can see our full UFC 189 coverage at this link.