“Different” Conor McGregor’s Mohawk & Tense Walkout Raised Red Flags At UFC 329, As Per Islam Makhachev’s Coach
AKA head coach Javier Mendez believes Conor McGregor was very tense before UFC 329, and the version of “The Notorious” he saw on July 11 was very different.
After a five-year hiatus, McGregor returned to the octagon earlier this month at UFC 329 to run it back with Max Holloway. However, his comeback bout ended after just 69 seconds as the Irishman busted his right knee while throwing a flying roundhouse kick aimed at Holloway that missed the target, causing the former champ to land awkwardly. Once injured, McGregor found it very difficult to stand or move because he could not put weight on his lead leg. He kept falling to the ground, after which referee Mike Beltran stopped the contest, and Holloway won by TKO (injury).
After the loss, several online videos surfaced, convincing fans and viewers that the Dubliner was injured even before the fight started and therefore looked super tense during the walkout and once he entered the octagon.
Conor McGregor, on the other hand, has opined that he was ‘fully calm and relaxed,’ and even shared footage of himself drilling his jumping flying roundhouse kick in the locker room without any pain to prove that there was no right knee injury before the bout began.
However, some fans and even legendary coach Javier Mendez still believe that there was something wrong with the former UFC double champion on July 11. Therefore, he looked tense even before the fight began, including when Bruce Buffer was announcing his name.
Javier Mendez sensed something was terribly wrong with Conor McGregor before UFC 329: “He didn’t look relaxed at all”
During a recent sit-down with NewBettingSites.uk, Javier Mendez, while talking about UFC 329: Conor McGregor vs. Max Holloway 2, said that McGregor did not have his usual “relaxed swagger” on fight night and even his decision to get a mohawk at the last moment seemed odd to Mendez. He said:
“The Conor that we saw was different. The first thing that got me is his mohawk, and I’m like, what? That struck me as a little odd. But then he didn’t have that relaxed swagger. So I didn’t know, I didn’t know what to think, and then when he did that flying kick I went, what the hell? Then I saw his leg buckle as he landed on it, throwing that kick, and then I’m like, what the hell’s going on here?”Â
Seeing a super tensed and not wild and free Conor McGregor confused Mendez, who added during the same sitdown that only the Irishman’s team really knows if he hurt himself while warming up in the locker room or during the fight with that wild strike:
“He was in the back room throwing the same kick, and he had no problem, zero problem with it, so he was doing great. But then he goes to the walkout, and then he’s taking his shoes off, and you notice there was something wrong there.”
They pointed it out to me, and I go,’Man, I didn’t even pick that up.’’ Who knows? Did he hurt himself on that kick, or did he hurt himself at the warm-up? I don’t know. Only his team knows the answer. All I know is that it wasn’t him that I saw. I saw somebody that wasn’t comfortable when they showed it right before they’re about to go. He looked very tense. He didn’t look relaxed at all to me. Very tense. And I was confused, to be honest with you. I had no idea.”
Lastly, Mendez said that he would never advise fighters who train under him to start a bout with a wild flying kick like Conor McGregor, as the chances of something like that connecting are very rare even though a fighter practices it a million times during training:
“I would strongly advise my guys to never do something like that. That’s a Hail Mary type thing. If he would have landed, it would have been the greatest thing, like Anthony Pettis jumping on the cage and round-kicking. Look how famous it made him. It put him on the Wheaties cereal box! So something like that, if you can pull it off, is fantastic, but the likelihood of you pulling it off is not that big. If you practice it a lot, like it appears like he was, it can happen and it can throw somebody off, but generally, it’s a waste of energy.”
Conor McGregor has confirmed that he has torn his ACL and meniscus and will have to undergo surgery soon. Following recovery and rehabilitation, “The Notorious” expects to return next year in July during International Fight Week, for his last dance, and he wants “Blessed” again.
Recently, the Irishman blamed “dry ice” for his injury, adding that the octagon floor was wet at UFC 329, and therefore he wants his TKO loss to Max Holloway to be overturned to a no contest.
Check out Conor McGregor’s comments below:
