McGregor def. Mendes
KO/TKO · Round 2 · 4:57
McGregor vs Mendes — Interim Featherweight Title · UFC 189
What happened
In the hardest fight of his early career, Conor McGregor weathered Chad Mendes' wrestling to win the interim featherweight title. Mendes repeatedly took him down, opened a cut and dominated on the mat — but McGregor escaped a late guillotine and erupted with left hands in the closing seconds, stopping Mendes at 4:57 of round two.
- Mendes controlled long stretches with takedowns and top pressure and bloodied McGregor in the first round.
- McGregor escaped a late guillotine attempt and landed his left in the final seconds for the finish.
Watch
The full fight.
More videos · 2 clips
Signature moments
Signature moments
Analysts
No verified pre-fight analyst picks are logged for this historical bout.
Track record rows appear only when a timestamped source has been reviewed.
Archive
Pre-fight material — kept for transparency, folded by default.
Tale of the Tape
Records & career stats — as they entered fight night
- 18-2-0
- Record
- 17-3-0
- 2-3 last 5
- Recent formRecent formWin–loss record over the fighter’s last five bouts, newest first, as carried in their UFC/FightMetric career stats.
- —
- 37
- Age
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- 1.75 m
- Height
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- 188 cm
- Reach
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- Southpaw
- StanceStanceWhich side a fighter leads from — a striking term, not a religious one. Orthodox: right-handed, left foot and hand forward (the common default). Southpaw: the mirror image, right side forward (usually a left-hander). Switch: changes between the two during a fight.
- —
- 91%
- Finish rateFinish %Finish rateThe share of a fighter’s wins that ended inside the distance — by KO/TKO or submission — rather than going to the judges’ scorecards. Higher means more finishes.
- —
- 19
- Wins by KO/TKOKO/TKO wins
- —
- 1
- Wins by submissionSub wins
- —
- 5.32
- Sig. strikes landed / minStrikes / minSignificant strikes landed per minuteAverage number of significant strikes a fighter lands for every minute of fight time — a read on striking output and pace. From UFC/FightMetric career stats.
- —
- 4.66
- Sig. strikes absorbed / minAbsorbed / minSignificant strikes absorbed per minuteAverage number of significant strikes a fighter takes for every minute of fight time. Lower is better — it means they get hit less often. From UFC/FightMetric career stats.
- —
- 54%
- Striking defenseStrike def.Striking defenseThe percentage of opponents’ significant strikes that do not land — strikes slipped, blocked or evaded. Higher is better. Not the same as striking accuracy, which counts your own strikes that land. From UFC/FightMetric.
- —
- 67%
- Takedown defenseTD def.Takedown defenseThe percentage of opponents’ takedown attempts that are stuffed. Higher means harder to put on the mat. From UFC/FightMetric.
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- 8:02
- Avg. fight timeAvg. timeAverage fight timeThe mean length of the fighter’s bouts (minutes:seconds) — a rough read on whether they tend to finish early or go the distance. From UFC/FightMetric.
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- Welterweight (moving down)
- Weight classWeight
- Featherweight
- Ireland
- Nationality
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Career stats per UFC.com; recent form is each fighter's last five bouts. Numbers reflect records coming into fight night. Bars compare each stat on a fixed scale; the “Edge” marker flags the leading corner where the gap is meaningful. The snapshot plots five career rates — output, striking defense, durability (strikes absorbed, inverted), takedown defense and finish rate — each normalised on its own scale.
Pre-fight analysis — how we saw it going in
Case for McGregor
McGregor had the range, body work and left hand that had carried his featherweight rise, but this was the first UFC matchup built to drag him into extended wrestling. His path was to punish Mendes every time the fight reset and make the short-notice challenger pay for the pace.
Case for Mendes
Mendes' case was wrestling urgency. If he could keep McGregor underneath him, the interim title fight would become about takedowns, elbows and fatigue instead of open-space striking.
What We Were Watching For
- How often Mendes gets beneath McGregor's hips before the Irishman can settle into kicking range.
- McGregor's body work after each reset; those shots become more important as Mendes slows.
- The late second-round scramble: one defended guillotine turns into the finishing sequence.
Fighters
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