UFC
Conor McGregor says he's "now the world champion" after UFC 189; talks body shots, takedowns, and more on Sportscenter
Jul 25, 2015 - 10:35:03 AM Conor McGregor says he's "now the world champion" after UFC 189; talks body shots, takedowns, and more on Sportscenter

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

In victorious relief at UFC 189 earlier this month, Conor McGregor had a rare moment of emotional overload. Now that the moment has passed, it's back to business for the fast-rising Irish star.

McGregor made an appearance on ESPN's Sportscenter on Friday to discuss his victory over Chad Mendes and where things stand for him as Interim Featherweight Champion, and for those looking for more bulletin board material from McGregor, they wouldn't be disappointed.

Here's a sampling of McGregor's offering on Friday (transcribed by FoxSports.com):

On how the Mendes fight really played out:

"To the naked eye it seemed like a tough contest and I get a giggle out of listening to supposed experts in the field of fighting when they speak of his two-week training camp or his lack of preparation. To the trained eye, you understand what you are witnessing. You are witnessing ruthless bodywork. Ruthless body shooting where I teeped him into his windpipe, I cracked him into his ribs and every time those shots dug in deep, they take rounds out of you. There's no coming back from clean, clean bodywork. It can render you useless. That's what happened. He came out, I butchered his body, I rearranged his intestines and stayed safe on the bottom when we were in those positions. I elbowed the top of his crown. I done damage and remained efficient and then I rose to my feet, went back to work on the body and this his body gave up at that time and then I punched his jaw across his face."


On not stopping Mendes' takedowns:

"It just reiterates what I know: that there is many, many bums in this business that do not understand the true meaning of fighting. I feel like a lot of these people are brought up on sport fighting where to score a point or to gain an advantage is a victory. I was brought up where if I do not defend these strikes from these six individuals who are attacking me in this situation, I will not live to see another day. So that is my upbringing versus their upbringing where they score a takedown and it's a success. I felt he ended the contest and all he wanted was to get a takedown. For him and the American fans and his team, they just wanted to see that takedown. That was victory for them. But it is not victory. In a fight to the death, a takedown means absolutely nothing."


On UFC 189's success:

"The previous fight was the biggest event in UFC history. $7.2 million gate, cleared one million pay-per-view buys, it slots very high on the list of MGM [Grand Garden Arena] gates, just below Mike Tyson against [Francois] Botha and just above Floyd Mayweather versus Juan Manuel Marquez. It also beat that pay-per-view number, so that was a tremendous event, one of the biggest if not the biggest in UFC history. We don't go backwards. We always go forward. That's what my business partner Mr. Lorenzo Fertitta always says — you don't stay in the same spot, you move up levels. So the next level will be a big football stadium, which is in discussion."


On Jose Aldo:

"I am now the world champion. You claim it's interim champion, but Jose went running. Jose's a scared little man who did not show up to fight and sat under his covers praying for Chad Mendes to win. His whole team were praying for Chad to win so he would not have to face me but his prayers went unanswered and I dominated and won. Now I am the featherweight world champion of the UFC and we will schedule a fight against Jose in the future and we will see what way it plays out. Hopefully, he stops running and mans up and let's do this damn fight."


Penick's Analysis: McGregor's a quote machine, and he doesn't stop. It's impressive, really. Whether it starts to sour on people or not, there's no questioning he's on one hell of a hot streak right now, and clearly has no plans of letting the train slow down. He fought a very good fight against Chad Mendes. Great even. The body shots were an effective gameplan that he put in play early and often, and it paid off big at the end of that second round. If he's giving us inside info on saying the show cleared a million pay-per-view buys and not just saying it for the sake of saying it, that's a massively impressive haul for this card, and firmly establishes him as one of the top draws in the sport. He's riding high and has a reason to say whatever he feels like saying. It's been working thus far, so there's no point in backing off of it now.