Conor McGregor: Coach predicted Khabib would drop and ‘destroy’ Mac at UFC 229 - EXCLUSIVE
CONOR MCGREGOR’s long-awaited return to the Octagon didn’t go how he would’ve hoped.
This past weekend, the UFC’s first simultaneous two-weight world champion returned to mixed martial arts action in the main event of UFC 229, where he took on the undefeated Khabib Nurmagomedov.
McGregor suffered a fourth-round submission loss to his successor at the summit of the lightweight division, who unfortunately marred his career-defining victory by leaping out of the cage and attempting to attack his opponent’s Brazilian jiu-jitsu coach Dillon Danis.
Nurmagomedov dominated all but one of the rounds and shocked the fans in attendance at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and the millions watching across the world by flooring McGregor with a huge right hand in the second stanza.
The Russian’s peach of an overhand right hand came as huge surprise to many as he predominately does his best work on the ground.
One man who wasn’t at all shocked by Nurmagomedov dropping McGregor was his head coach, Javier Mendez, who told Express Sport that a lot of people were sleeping on ‘The Eagle’s’ striking ahead of his maiden title defence.
“Khabib is basically going to destroy him,” the American Kickboxing Academy head coach told Express Sport prior to the fight. “He's going to maul him. He's going to take him down.
“Conor's only chance is with the stand-up, and he does have a chance there, but that's it.
“And Khabib can actually hurt in the stand-up too. Because look, he's going to have to punch.
Khabib can actually hurt in the stand-up too
“You can't just come in there and wrestle. It's an MMA fight, it starts standing.
“Khabib can actually hurt him with the stand-up and can definitely smash him on the ground.
“Conor's got one opportunity and that's the stand-up. That's it.”
Although Nurmagomedov had his way with McGregor for the majority of the fight, the Dagestan native did have several of his famed takedown attempts stuffed by ‘The Notorious’, another thing Mendes foresaw.
“I definitely see him stopping some takedowns and I definitely see him getting up from the ground. I definitely see that," he added.
“What I don't see, which would be a bad move on their part, if he tries to take Khabib down,” he said. That I don't see. Because if he does, fantastic, do it. I'd love that.
“That would be same as us saying, 'We're going to stand in the pocket and trade with you.' Conor would say, 'Great, then do it, my man. Let's go.' Okay, we're going to stand with you. Yup, we're going to do that.
“Obviously, in the fight game, the fight starts in the standup and we have to get him to the ground. But we will get him to the ground. It's just a matter of when.
“First round, second round, it doesn't matter. He's going to get him down. And when he gets him down, he's going to be in trouble.
"He may survive one takedown, two takedowns, three takedowns, that's fine. He may survive three or four and get up.
"But is he going to survive the fifth, sixth and the seventh? I don't think so.”
McGregor is currently eyeing a rematch with Nurmagomedov, who handed him the second loss of his UFC career.
Hours after the fight, he tweeted: “Good knock. Looking forward to the rematch.”
And on Monday, he said: “We lost the match but won the battle. The war goes on.”
Both men are awaiting punishment from the Nevada State Athletic Commission for their parts in the post-fight brawl, in which McGregor was punched twice in the back of the head after clashing with Nurmagomedov’s cousin Abubakar.