Spoiler...........Mcgregor vs Mendes...............

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Mcgregor wins at the end of the second round. Mendes was able to take Mcgregor down pretty effectively and was also able to dish out some nasty elbows inside Mcgregor's guard. Mcgregor was winning anytime they spent standing and prolly hurt mendes pretty good in the first round. Though Mendes was on top inside Mcgregors guard most the second round he ended up passing the guard and setting up a guillotine turns to his back but Mcgregor jumps out the window. There is about 30 seconds left in the fight and Mcgregor drops Mendes in like the last 10 seconds. he jumps on him and lands a couple more. Mendes is covering and they stop the fight with seconds left.

now i admit that was a damn nice combo by Mcgregor at the end, i feel this was the earliest i've seen a championship fight ent. Mendes was not even given a chance, so in my opinion they should have given him a chance considering he was winning the fight, and was covering with prolly only 2 seconds left, and could have a had a whole round to recover. this kinda seems like the politics of fighting i guess. who knows. overall a great fight.

For what it's worth I wasn't sure either if the fight ended too soon, then after watching the replay Chad def took it hard on the chin. The follow up strikes were there, it looked like Chad was covering up (the closest I can remember is Cyborg and Carano when Cyborg on with one second left).

Hats off to both...did anyone sit there wishing Connor knew Rubber Guard or Flower/butterfly hook sweeps? Or did CHad do a solid job not giving any openings for sweeps?

Do any wrestlers here think Chad may have gone too hard and gassed himself as well? He looked like he was employing GSP's strategy vs Diaz and Hardy, and then somewhere along the way got into the scramble and Connor was back up

A lot of anger on the internet because of that stoppage and Conors ground game. How many punches should Chad have taken to be good? Chad wasn't even reaching for a leg to shake the cob webs off. He just turtled and with 3 seconds left in the round could have eaten 5 or 6 more punches for no reason

People were saying Rousey/Mcmann was a little quick of a stoppage. Kind of the same finishing position too

Seems like Mendez "gave up" on the round because he thought it was ending/over.

Herb Dean saw him as giving up on the whole fight.

Anyone see Luis Smolka go to the truck, sweep to stoner control, then pass to side control? Such a dope card, the main card was probably the best I've ever seen.

Definitely my favorite card ever. Huge fan of Conor but his hips underneath Chad were pretty poor. He needs us! Conor get to HQ!

Sidenote: I thought Dana White did the right thing giving Lawler/MacDonald the bonus. Those guys took a beating. I don't know if 50K was enough for the damage they took.

Connor seemed to smash chad on the feet, The people who say that chad gassed, must have forgotten the body shots that connor landed. Could connor's game on the ground be better? yeah maybe, but he also fought arguably the best wrestler in the division. I thought that was a smashing victory for connor.

That was a very good stoppage. No need for more damage when a fighter has decided they are done. When a fighter falls back, sinks down and turtles on their own like that, it's basically a striking tapout. We've seen plenty of fights stopped like that. If Mendes wasn't effectively 'tapping out', he would have said so after the stop.

Connor's guard sucks!!!!! He's a brown belt?

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Originally Posted by steveramz

Connor's guard sucks!!!!! He's a brown belt?

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What about it sucked? Because he wasn't very offensive from guard? Or because he was struck a few times? I mean, he didn't look spectacular, but he did do something right. He got back to his feet and he found the KO. For his MMA style, I think that strategy works just fine for him. I mean, it DID work out for him.

Personally, I would've liked for the ref to let the bell ring so we could've gotten one more round out of it. But at the same time, he's the ref. He just saw Chad get rocked harder than he's ever been rocked in his career besides that Aldo knee. I can't think of any fight where Chad got rocked like that after getting worn down by body shots. So maybe Herb just saw in his eyes that he was done. And the follow up punches were probably thudding really hard in person. So I'm not mad at the stoppage even though I would've liked for it to go to the next round so that there isn't any controversy. Oh well.

David, I thought it sucked too. He didn't use his hips and legs at all, didn't clinch, didn't attempt any sweeps or subs...he tied him up for a second then scrambled back up, which could have gone VERY badly for him. I'm anti-scramble, I want to have control as much of the time as possible, I try to double bag often, stop in sparring if I'm just muscling something, etc. I wouldn't say he sucks, but he didn't show anything that I was impressed with there. And with his length and flexibility (evident with his kicking) I think he'd be an incredible rubber guard player if he committed to learning it.

Gotcha, so it sucked because it wasn't aggressive and pretty basic. Fair enough.

Connor's guard was basic but the fact he kept moving, forcing his oponent to constantly work at applying enough pressure to keep him down, and that he just took all of those shots without panicking whatsoever was all it took to break Mendes' heart.

Each time it got back to the standup Mendes looked more beaten than the last. I think when yo uabsoultely have to keep the fight on the ground it can be more difficult and heart breaking in a fight than anyone who just trains might realise.

Herb Dean has been known for stopping fights early but on the other hand im sure he cares more for the fighters then most promoters and even managers so it is what it is. I would like to see Mcgregor vs Aldo someday anyway but i still think Conor still has alot to prove to keep up with his mouth at least. I really wasn't to impressed with his ground game besides his ability to take a beating and keep calm as someone above had said. I look at it like Chad fucked up goin for a guillotine instead of maintaining position rather than Conor having to really work to get out of that position. I haven't watched the replay or anything since so does anybody know if that was the Ghost escape that Conor did or what, idk i think i may be judging Conor pretty hard but its just cuz all the talk he does. i wish i seen more the fights before that tho sounds like there were some ones.

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Originally Posted by David Rosado

Gotcha, so it sucked because it wasn't aggressive and pretty basic. Fair enough.

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I mean, he didn't use it effectively either for offense or defense. Whatever his strategy in getting there I think it's clear that there was more he could have done.

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Originally Posted by Chris Garry

Connor's guard was basic but the fact he kept moving, forcing his oponent to constantly work at applying enough pressure to keep him down, and that he just took all of those shots without panicking whatsoever was all it took to break Mendes' heart.

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I agree with this. He wasn't necessarily offensive off his back, which is why I imagine there may be discord about the quality of his guard. But the fact remains that he was able to survive the ground and pound, counter the guillotine attempt, and fight to get back to his feet more than once after getting taken down. This in and of itself can be considered a success, if not so much from a jiu jitsu standpoint, definitely from an MMA standpoint.

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Originally Posted by Chris Garry

Connor's guard was basic but the fact he kept moving, forcing his oponent to constantly work at applying enough pressure to keep him down, and that he just took all of those shots without panicking whatsoever was all it took to break Mendes' heart.

Each time it got back to the standup Mendes looked more beaten than the last. I think when yo uabsoultely have to keep the fight on the ground it can be more difficult and heart breaking in a fight than anyone who just trains might realise.

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This.

Of course all us Rubber Guard fanatics are going to be critical of the guard but he did well to constantly pummel to get overhooks or controlling the forearms to keep Mendes ground and pound at bay. I would have liked to see a bit more hip movement after the pummeling to close the gaps around the overhooked arm, could have shut down an arm and got that stand up a bit quicker maybe but who knows what I'd even be thinking in that situation with a wrestler like Mendes in my guard.

it was so exciting. had a few beers and stayed up passed my bed time. requires a rewatch for sure. lol

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Originally Posted by rdouglas

I look at it like Chad fucked up goin for a guillotine instead of maintaining position rather than Conor having to really work to get out of that position.

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That guilly is a TAM special man. I don't see it as Chad messing up. I saw it as Conor seeing it coming and timing his escape correctly. I'm not the one who ranked him so I'm not going to give my opinion on his brown belt. He's also been training for a stand up war for his training camp, so I can't blame him for having a rusty guard.

But in the end, he played his game better than Chad and got the finish. Basic guard or not. I'd be more inclined to say that his guard sucked if he was just getting passed and smashed effortlessly. At least he controlled some of the action, ya know?

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Originally Posted by David Rosado

What about it sucked? Because he wasn't very offensive from guard? Or because he was struck a few times? I mean, he didn't look spectacular, but he did do something right. He got back to his feet and he found the KO. For his MMA style, I think that strategy works just fine for him. I mean, it DID work out for him.

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First, I am Conor fan, and was 1 of only 3 people at the bar I was at cheering for him. I knew he was going to win, and I expect him to destroy Aldo as well.

That being said, I was extremely disappointed in his guard.

When you clasp your feet behind your opponents back, you're not looking to escape or attack, you're just making yourself more comfortable.

You ought to be putting your knees on the hips or bring your legs high for submission attempts off of the downward strikes or to escape, there's rubber guard... There's a lot more you can do than clasp your feet and sit there with your only plan being to move your head from side to side.

He clearly needs to spend some time with Eddie at HQ to add some no-gi game to his arsenal.

It's funny hearing people say Chad shouldn't have gone for the kill. He used to get a lot of shit for getting the takedown and being a wet blanket. Now that he's going for it people are disappointed that he did. Kinda funny

Has Conor ever had the reputation of having a nasty guard game? The guy weathered the storm, scrambled up when he had a chance, and got the TKO. There are plenty of brown and black belts in the UFC that are not very active off their backs, so it seems a little unfair to question his rank.

I'm only a purple belt and have never fought MMA so I'm not going to judge or act like I know what he should be doing.

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Originally Posted by Brent Smith

It's funny hearing people say Chad shouldn't have gone for the kill. He used to get a lot of shit for getting the takedown and being a wet blanket. Now that he's going for it people are disappointed that he did. Kinda funny

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Seriously. I think he underestimated Conor's sub escape skills because his guard wasn't dangerous. Mendes telegraphed that sub and was a second behind Conor in the scramble.

man, iam a white belt so I cant say shit really but he could of gone for the flower sweep. maybe its harder in mma?

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Originally Posted by Pat Campagnola

Has Conor ever had the reputation of having a nasty guard game? The guy weathered the storm, scrambled up when he had a chance, and got the TKO. There are plenty of brown and black belts in the UFC that are not very active off their backs, so it seems a little unfair to question his rank.

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^^^
This

He weathered the storm and got the win. The fact that he got back to his feet and finished the fight in the second round like he guaranteed is pretty damn impressive.

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Originally Posted by eoin ahern

man, iam a white belt so I cant say shit really but he could of gone for the flower sweep. maybe its harder in mma?

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Here's the thing about grappling. You can go for things all day. You don't really pay the price if you fail other than maybe getting reversed or passed. In MMA if you go for something and fail, you eat punches. So Conor COULD have gone for a flower sweep. But had he failed, he could have also ended up with his arm stuck while eating hammer fists.

https://www.facebook.com/33000446376...type=2&theater

A quick video John Kavanagh put up of himself and Conor rolling 2 years ago, I heard a lot of SBG guys are known for having some nasty guillotines. Kavanagh said Conor did NO wrestling leading up to this fight because of a knee injury. Crazy.

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Originally Posted by David Rosado

Here's the thing about grappling. You can go for things all day. You don't really pay the price if you fail other than maybe getting reversed or passed. In MMA if you go for something and fail, you eat punches. So Conor COULD have gone for a flower sweep. But had he failed, he could have also ended up with his arm stuck while eating hammer fists.

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More difficult to pull off with punches involved, even more difficult when you have someone with the pressure of Chad Mendes on top of you combined with said punches.

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Originally Posted by Pat Campagnola

Has Conor ever had the reputation of having a nasty guard game? The guy weathered the storm, scrambled up when he had a chance, and got the TKO. There are plenty of brown and black belts in the UFC that are not very active off their backs, so it seems a little unfair to question his rank.

I'm only a purple belt and have never fought MMA so I'm not going to judge or act like I know what he should be doing.

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BJ Penn used that exact strategy.