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UFC 189 blog: Conor McGregor mounts comeback to beat Chad Mendes

Robbie Lawler bounces back from adversity of his own in win against Rory MacDonald

UFC189 Fight Night at the MGM Grand

L.E. Baskow

Interim featherweight title fighter Conor McGregor lands the finishing punch to the chin of Chad Mendes during their UFC189 fight at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on Saturday, July 11, 2015.

Updated Saturday, July 11, 2015 | 10:19 p.m.

UFC 189 Fight Night

Interim featherweight title fighter Conor McGregor lands the finishing punch to the chin of Chad Mendes during their UFC189 fight at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on Saturday, July 11, 2015. Launch slideshow »

Chad Mendes deeply inhaled in what would serve as a last breath in his quest to win the UFC interim featherweight title Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

Mendes had controlled the action in the UFC 189 main event up to the final 10 seconds of the second round, but it was as if the sign of exhaustion was all Conor McGregor needed to see. McGregor charged forward with a jab from his right hand to set up an overhand left that landed square on Mendes’ temple.

Mendes toppled, getting knocked out at 4:57 of the second round in a striking switch in fortune for McGregor.

“I knew if my shots were landing, I would hurt him,” McGregor said while still in the octagon. “And the precision of that left hand. No one can take that left hand. It breaks them, and he broke.”

McGregor stood in the middle of chaos with his belt around his waist after the fight. Irish fans waved flags, danced and screamed at near-deafening levels.

The sold-out pro-Irish crowd at the MGM, which produced a record $7.1 million gate, didn’t have much to celebrate for most of the main event. Mendes exposed McGregor’s wrestling in the first two rounds, powering into takedowns and smashing with ground-and-pound.

McGregor suffered a cut to the side of his right eye in the first round, and nothing improved early in the second. McGregor didn’t get off of his back until 30 seconds remained, and that’s when he made his move.

“He talks a lot, but he’s got the stuff to back it up,” Mendes said after embracing McGregor in the octagon. “This is the biggest fight in UFC history, and I’m thankful to come in here and be a part of it.”

Going forward, it’s unlikely there will be any discussions about the best cards in history without UFC 189. Beyond McGregor’s ascension to championship status, the main card was stacked with wild brawls.

The fight of the year to this point occurred in the co-main event, where Robbie Lawler knocked out Rory MacDonald at 1:00 of the fifth round to retain his welterweight title. In the preceding two rounds, Lawler was on the verge of getting knocked out himself with MacDonald bashing him with kicks and elbows.

Both fighters’ faces were covered in blood, but MacDonald’s nose was badly broken and he crumpled onto the mat when Lawler landed a right-hand flush in the middle of his face.

“I showed everyone I’m a true fighter,” Lawler said. “I come to fight. I’ll keep coming. If people get in my face, I’m going to knock them out.”

Jeremy Stephens joined McGregor and Lawler in winning with a comeback. After losing the first two rounds of a catchweight (149.5) bout against Dennis Bermudez, Stephens clocked his opponent with a combination early in the third.

Bermudez was out of it, and the referee waved off the fight.

Gunnar Nelson and Thomas Almeida also won with stoppages as part of the historic pay-per-view. Nelson submitted Brandon Thatch with a rear-naked choke at 2:54 of the first round in a welterweight upset.

It followed Almeida rallying after getting knocked down in the first round to knock out Brad Pickett with a flying knee at 0:29 of the second round.

The card had been so memorable that McGregor and Mendes had their work cut out for them to stand out. It looked as if the grudge match would fail to live up to expectations when Mendes spent the first nine minutes smothering McGregor.

McGregor had the built-in excuse of having to fight a wrestler like Mendes on two weeks' notice after Jose Aldo went down with a rib injury, but he wouldn’t have to use it.

“I’ve been hearing all the time that I’m protected from this type of opponent, but I’m a true fighter,” McGregor said. “It doesn’t matter who it is. I’m a professional. I show up and win.”

Check below for the live blog of UFC 189 with preliminary card results at the bottom and come back later for more coverage.

Pre-main card

It’s not the fight everyone wanted to see, but indications are that Chad Mendes vs. Conor McGregor will fare just fine at tonight’s UFC 189.

The UFC spent a record amount of money promoting the main event when it was slated as a featherweight title defense for Jose Aldo against Conor McGregor. It looked ominous when Aldo pulled out of the bout with an injured rib two weeks ago, but Mendes and McGregor have managed to sustain the anticipation with their interim championship bout.

And, in some measures, they’ve even surpassed it. UFC President Dana White reported that the gate receipts had solidified at $6.8 million when Aldo vs. McGregor was intact.

Extra ticket sales totaling $300,000 followed when news broke of Mendes filling in, for a record $7.1 million. Many felt McGregor didn’t deserve a shot at Aldo before getting past a wrestler anyway.

In Mendes, McGregor gets the featherweight division’s best wrestler. The Team Alpha Male product from Sacramento, Calif., was an All-American in college at Cal Poly, and his only two losses in the UFC have come against Aldo.

McGregor should have an advantage on the feet, but the degree to which is not pronounced. Fans will finally get a chance to see if McGregor is all that he cracks himself up to be.

Few, aside from McGregor himself, believe UFC 189 will surpass the 1 million pay-per-view buys the promotion hoped the original fight would draw. But it should still post, at minimum, a respectable figure that makes UFC officials happy.

It’s not as if McGregor and Aldo are without support. There’s even another title fight with Robbie Lawler attempting his first welterweight defense against Rory MacDonald.

In what's seen as another competitive matchup, MacDonald comes in as the slight favorite. The Georges St. Pierre protégé should have a size and grappling advantage, but Lawler has more striking power that led him to a victory the first time he fought MacDonald, in November 2013.

A catchweight (149.5) bout between Dennis Bermudez and Jeremy Stephens could produce fireworks even though the latter missed the featherweight limit by more than 3 pounds. Highly regarded prospects fill the first two fights of the main card.

Undefeated 23-year-old bantamweight Thomas Almeida is featured in the opener against wily veteran Brad Pickett. Grappler Gunnar Nelson and striker Brandon Thatch are next in a welterweight bout that could propel one of the two into the division’s higher reaches.

Nelson trains with McGregor, who’s been successful in turning this event into a spectacle regardless of who he’s fighting.

Follow along with the Sun’s round-by-round live blog of the main card action and look below for full results from the preliminaries.

Matt Brown energized a crowd left drab from an otherwise uninteresting preliminary card. Brown submitted Tim Means at 4:24 of a welterweight bout packed with action in both the striking and grappling departments.

Alex Garcia defeated Mike Swick by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28) in a welterweight bout. It's the most notable win of Garcia's career even though Swick hadn't competed in nearly three years.

John Howard beat Cathal Pendred by split decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-29) in a lethargic welterweight bout. The fighters spent most of their time in the clinch, and engaged sparingly.

Bantamweight prospect Cody Garbrandt knocked down Henry Briones in the first round, but couldn't manage to get the finish. Garbrandt settled for a unanimous-decision victory (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) victory over Briones.

The pro-Irish crowd piped up for their first countryman on the card, flyweight Neil Seery, but he couldn't give them anything to cheer about in the end. Louis Smolka continually put Seery in compromising positions with his grappling to claim a unanimous-decision victory (30-27, 30-27, 30-27).

Lightweight Cody Pfister opened the night with a comeback upset. Yosdenis Cedeno tagged him a few times in the first round, but Pfister responded to win the next two on all three judges' scorecards for a unanimous-decision victory (29-28, 29-28, 29-28).

Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.

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