Conor McGregor Releases First Statement Following Fight with Floyd Mayweather
Less than a week after his historic fight with Floyd Mayweather in his professional boxing debut, Conor McGregor has released a statement reflecting back on the good and the bad that unfolded last Saturday night.
McGregor made a great showing for himself after winning several rounds against Mayweather before eventually succumbing to a 10th-round TKO. With the win, Mayweather moved to 50-0 in his career, while McGregor suffered the first knockout loss of his combat sports career.
In the fight, McGregor started to fade in the ninth round when his conditioning began to fail him and Mayweather took advantage with a barrage of punches to finish the fight in round 10.
Looking back, McGregor admits to certain changes that would have to be made if he was going to prepare for a 12-round fight again, while still believing with a few tweaks that he could have beaten Mayweather last weekend.
“Just coming back around after a whirlwind couple of days. Thank you to all the fans for the support of the fight and the event! Without your support we as fighters are nothing, so I thank you all! Thank you to my team of coaches and training partners!” 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 through 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. 30 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 all take these great lessons with me and implement them into my camp going forward.
“Another day another lesson!”
McGregor also paid homage to Mayweather, who retired after their fight, where he passed legendary heavyweight Rocky Marciano's record to get to 50-0 in his career.
The two fighters verbally sparred for more than a year in the lead-up to the fight, but after the contest was over, both Mayweather and McGregor buried the hatched, while each one gave credit to the other for a great performance.
McGregor even touted Mayweather's ability to make the necessary adjustments that could have turned him into a dangerous mixed martial artist.
“Congrats to Floyd on a well fought match,” McGregor said. “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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McGregor closed things out by toasting to his fans, while teasing his next fight as he looks to make his return to the ring or the Octagon to redeem himself in the near future.
“Here is a toast of whiskey to everyone involved in this event and everyone who enjoyed it!” McGregor wrote.
“Thank you to you all! Onto the next one!”
As of now, McGregor hasn't hinted about a timeline for his return to action or whether he might test himself in boxing again rather than mixed martial arts. Either way, McGregor certainly has plenty of options while still awaiting the final numbers on his pay-per-view fight with Mayweather that will likely net him more than $100 million when it's all said and done.
