Conor McGregor says with better prep for 12 rounds, he could have beat Floyd Mayweather

Not that it should come as much of a surprise, but Conor McGregor appears to be taking the loss in his boxing debut in stride.

McGregor (21-3 MMA, 9-1 UFC, 0-1 boxing) was stopped with a TKO in the 10th round by Floyd Mayweather (50-0 boxing) this past Saturday in the highly anticipated “Money Fight” at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The pay-per-view blockbuster is expected to wind up as the most lucrative fight in history.

McGregor was a heavy underdog in the fight, given Mayweather had not only never lost in 49 career fights, but had never even been knocked down, and McGregor, the UFC’s lightweight champion, was making his pro boxing debut. McGregor held his own early, but faded late and Mayweather took over.

Overnight, McGregor posted a message to his fans on his Instagram feed. The post was his first public comment outside of the post-event news conference that took place with Mayweather on Saturday night.

The biggest takeaway? McGregor believes tiring later in the fight was the biggest issue, and with changes that would’ve helped him be fresher in the later stages, he thinks he could’ve pulled off what would have been an historic upset.

McGregor even said he believes Mayweather has some fighting attributes that would serve him well in an MMA fight – though “Money” has made no bones about saying he’s retired now, so we probably shouldn’t hold our breath for a rematch with McGregor in a UFC octagon.

Check out McGregor’s full Instagram post below.

“Just coming back around after a whirlwind couple of days. Thank you to all the fans for the support of the fight and the event! Without your support we as fighters are nothing so I thank you all! Thank you to my team of coaches and training partners!

I had an amazing team and It truly was an amazing and enjoyable camp, and honestly I feel with just a little change in certain areas of the prep, we could have built the engine for 12 full rounds under stress, and got the better result on the night.

Getting to 12 rounds alone in practice was always the challenge in this camp. We started slowly getting to the 12 and decreasing the stress in the rounds the closer it got to 12. I think for the time we had, 10 weeks in camp, it had to be done this way. If I began with a loaded 12 rounds under much stress I would have only hit a brick wall and lost progress as a result and potentially not made the fight. A little more time and we could have made the 12 cleanly, while under more stress, and made it thru the later rounds in the actual fight. I feel every decision we made at each given time was the correct decision, and I am proud of everyone of my team for what we done in the short time that we done it.

30 minutes was the longest I have fought in a ring or cage or anywhere. Surpassing my previous time of 25 minutes. I am happy for the experience and happy to take all these great lessons with me and implement them into my camp going forward. Another day another lesson!

Congrats to Floyd on a well fought match. Very experienced and methodical in his work. I wish him well in retirement. He is a heck of a boxer. His experience, his patience and his endurance won him this fight hands down. I always told him he was not a fighter but a boxer. But sharing the ring with him he is certainly a solid fighter. Strong in the clinch. Great understanding of frames and head position. He has some very strong tools he could bring into an MMA game for sure.

Here is a toast of whiskey to everyone involved in this event and everyone who enjoyed it! Thank you to you all! Onto the next one!

Just coming back around after a whirlwind couple of days. Thank you to all the fans for the support of the fight and the event! Without your support we as fighters are nothing so I thank you all! Thank you to my team of coaches and training partners! I had an amazing team and It truly was an amazing and enjoyable camp, and honestly I feel with just a little change in certain areas of the prep, we could have built the engine for 12 full rounds under stress, and got the better result on the night. Getting to 12 rounds alone in practice was always the challenge in this camp. We started slowly getting to the 12 and decreasing the stress in the rounds the closer it got to 12. I think for the time we had, 10 weeks in camp, it had to be done this way. If I began with a loaded 12 rounds under much stress I would have only hit a brick wall and lost progress as a result and potentially not made the fight. A little more time and we could have made the 12 cleanly, while under more stress, and made it thru the later rounds in the actual fight. I feel every decision we made at each given time was the correct decision, and I am proud of everyone of my team for what we done in the short time that we done it. 30 minutes was the longest I have fought in a ring or cage or anywhere. Surpassing my previous time of 25 minutes. I am happy for the experience and happy to take all these great lessons with me and implement them into my camp going forward. Another day another lesson! Congrats to Floyd on a well fought match. Very experienced and methodical in his work. I wish him well in retirement. He is a heck of a boxer. His experience, his patience and his endurance won him this fight hands down. I always told him he was not a fighter but a boxer. But sharing the ring with him he is certainly a solid fighter. Strong in the clinch. Great understanding of frames and head position. He has some very strong tools he could bring into an MMA game for sure. Here is a toast of whiskey to everyone involved in this event and everyone who enjoyed it! Thank you to you all! Onto the next one!

A post shared by Conor McGregor Official (@thenotoriousmma) on Aug 31, 2017 at 1:21am PDT

McGregor wrapped by giving a toast of his own whiskey brand and said mentioned moving on to “the next one,” though he didn’t give any indication of what that next one might be. The UFC created an interim lightweight title fight between Tony Ferguson and Kevin Lee for October at UFC 216, and the winner presumably will be next in line to fight McGregor – but a trilogy rematch with Nate Diaz also appears to be on the table. After the loss to Mayweather, McGregor said he’ll return to the UFC or box, and said he’s a free agent for whatever the best opportunity is.

For complete coverage of “The Money Fight: Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor,” check out the MMA Events section of the site.