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Conor McGregor in his corner between rounds during Saturday night's fight against Floyd Mayweather in Las Vegas. Isaac Brekken
reflections

McGregor believes a longer training camp would have made the difference

“I think for the time we had, 10 weeks in camp, it had to be done this way,” the Dubliner said.

JUST OVER FOUR days on from his defeat to Floyd Mayweather, Conor McGregor has taken to Instagram to share his considered thoughts on Saturday night’s fight in Las Vegas.

In his professional boxing debut, the UFC lightweight champion was stopped in the 10th round at the T-Mobile Arena by Mayweather, who took his record to 50-0 before returning to retirement.

McGregor is adamant that fatigue was the decisive factor on the night. The Dubliner reckons that a longer training camp would have tipped the balance in his favour. As well as thanking his fans, coaches and training partners, he also paid tribute to Mayweather.

McGregor wrote: “I had an amazing team and it truly was an amazing and enjoyable camp, and honestly I feel with just a little change in certain areas of the prep, we could have built the engine for 12 full rounds under stress, and got the better result on the night.

“Getting to 12 rounds alone in practice was always the challenge in this camp. We started slowly getting to the 12 and decreasing the stress in the rounds the closer it got to 12. I think for the time we had, 10 weeks in camp, it had to be done this way.

“If I began with a loaded 12 rounds under much stress I would have only hit a brick wall and lost progress as a result and potentially not made the fight. A little more time and we could have made the 12 cleanly, while under more stress, and made it thru the later rounds in the actual fight.

“I feel every decision we made at each given time was the correct decision, and I am proud of every one of my team for what we done in the short time that we done it. Thirty minutes was the longest I have fought in a ring or cage or anywhere, surpassing my previous time of 25 minutes.

“I am happy for the experience and happy to take all these great lessons with me and implement them into my camp going forward. Another day, another lesson!”

He added: “Congrats to Floyd on a well fought match. Very experienced and methodical in his work. I wish him well in retirement. He is a heck of a boxer. His experience, his patience and his endurance won him this fight hands down.

“I always told him he was not a fighter but a boxer. But sharing the ring with him he is certainly a solid fighter. Strong in the clinch. Great understanding of frames and head position. He has some very strong tools he could bring into an MMA game for sure.”

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