Chad Mendes fell to Conor McGregor Saturday at UFC 189 in a bout for the interim UFC featherweight title, and while his popular opponent may have come out on top regardless, Mendes was compromised by an injury.
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Mendes Broke Thumb in First Round Against McGregor
Tuesday, July 14
According to Ariel Helwani of MMAFighting.com, the 30-year-old native of Hanford, California, was far from 100 percent entering the second round of Saturday's contest as he broke his right thumb early in the opening round.
Per Ron Kruck of AXS TV, Mendes faces a lengthy medical suspension until he is cleared by a doctor:
15 medical suspensions = epic event / McGregor susp. 45 days (cut) Mendes needs right thumb cleared by Dr or susp.185 days min. 24-day susp
— Ron Kruck (@rkruck) July 14, 2015
Mendes was subsequently knocked out late in the second round, which dropped his career record to 17-3, while McGregor improved to 18-2.
While Mendes didn't make any excuses following the defeat, his comments to Tristen Critchfield of Sherdog.com suggested he may have been dealing with a physical issue:
"Sometimes your mind's willing but your body's not. And that's basically what happened tonight," Mendes said. "There's not a whole lot I can say about it other than Conor was the better man tonight. I'd absolutely love to get back in there again and fight that guy with a full training camp under my belt."
Jose Aldo was initially supposed to fight McGregor, but when a rib injury prevented him from competing, Mendes stepped in at short notice to challenge the Irishman.
It is unclear if a lack of preparation may have contributed to Mendes' injury, but it certainly didn't help his overall chances at UFC 189.
Mendes deserves credit for going up against one of the top fighters in UFC without a proper amount of training, but that decision could ultimately cost him weeks or even months of his career.
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