Conor McGregor branded 'easy fight' by opponent who he knocked out in two rounds

03/28/2025 01:57 PM

Conor McGregor has been branded an ‘easy fight’ by Chad Mendes, despite knocking him out in the second round of their world title clash.

Back in the summer of 2015, a prime McGregor overcame the toughest round of his UFC career to date to stop Mendes and win his first title under the promotion’s banner. The American had stepped in on short notice to replace champion Jose Aldo, who offered an almost entirely different stylistic challenge.

However, there has always been a consensus that if Mendes had been given more than a matter of days to train that he might have been able to push the pace for longer and win the fight. He maintains this idea, and even claims Aldo was a tougher fight than McGregor.

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Chad Mendes claims Conor McGregor was an ‘easy fight’ despite KO loss

Even though Conor McGregor knocked him out with his infamous left hand at UFC 189, Chad Mendes still maintains that he was not all that difficult of an opponent. In the first round he completely dominated with his wrestling, and he even almost finished in round two before eventually losing position.

“When people ask who was my hardest opponent, everyone just automatically assumes Conor because it’s Conor McGregor,” Mendes said while appearing on Radical Health Radio. “But in all honesty Conor would have been an easy fight if I was in shape.

“Aldo is way more athletic, explosive, strong with great jiu-jitsu and unbelievable striking. Conor’s game at that point was striking. When I would take him down he was the type of guy that made an easy fight for a guy like me where he would just hold on.”

Conor McGregor’s win over Chad Mendes led to UFC superstardom

It’s hard to imagine for newer fans who have had four years of inactivity, but Conor McGregor was once an active and beloved UFC champion. He flew through the featherweight rankings to get to number one contention within just a year and a half of signing, and won gold in two weight classes.

His victory over Mendes made the eventual meeting between he and Aldo even bigger. And when he stopped the seemingly unbeatable Brazilian within a round it launched his star power into the stratosphere.

Even a loss to Nate Diaz couldn’t slow down his momentum; he quickly rematched his rival and won before going for gold in a second weight class. The entirety of his run from signing to becoming two-weight world champion happened within just three-and-a-half years.

Since then, however, he has been unable to remain consistent and now McGregor’s career inside the octagon appears to be all but over. His massive crossover boxing match with Floyd Mayweather earned him millions, but left him out of UFC action for two years.

When he returned, Khabib Nurmagomedov dominated him at UFC 229 in the biggest MMA fight of all time. From there he took over a year out before returning with a quick over Donald Cerrone and another lengthy spell on the sidelines due to coronavirus shutdowns.

He finally got back out against Dustin Poirier in January of 2021, but was shockingly knocked out for the first time in his life. Months later they had a trilogy bout, during which he broke his leg, and he has since not returned to action.