– Paul Dollery reports from Las Vegas
CONOR McGREGOR IS the current UFC champion when it comes to trash-talking, but Chad Mendes has returned plenty of verbal fire of his own in the build-up to their highly-anticipated meeting this weekend.
Mendes and McGregor will square off in tomorrow night’s main event at UFC 189 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, with the interim UFC featherweight title up for grabs.
“I mean, in my opinion, Conor is a very one-dimensional fighter,” said Mendes at last night’s pre-event press conference at the KÀ Theatre in Vegas.
“He’s a long, southpaw, stand-up fighter. He doesn’t have wrestling, he doesn’t have jiu-jitsu. [When] you wipe all that hype out of here, I’m going to get in there and destroy this dude. Bottom line.
“I’m more well-rounded. I have power. I can put people to sleep on their feet. I can take you down and beat a hole in your face, and I can submit you. What else can he do?”
To which McGregor responded: “He will do absolutely none of those things. He’s a rookie, he’s a novice in my eyes. He’s a white belt on the mat. In the grappling exchanges he will learn as well. Panic will set in, he’ll cower like a little girl and begin his run. But I will catch him.”
That was one of several exchanges between the UFC 189 rivals during an entertaining press conference, which can be viewed in full below…
