Not everyone will love McGregor for his brash talk and cocky style. However, when people are told of the real score on the Irishman, his dedication and work ethic could be something to marvel at.
McGregor did win his match against late replacement Chad Mendes and although he did have some anxious moments, it was later revealed that the brash Irishman was actually competing with a handicap, a knee injury to be exact.
The revelation was made after his win and coach John Kavanagh admitted that such was a reason for concern during the match. This also explains why live wrestling training feeds were cut off prior to UFC 189, something apparently made to hide McGregor's injury.
Until McGregor's camp revealed the said issue, such was hardly noticed. The match went as expected with Chad Mendes expectedly resorting to his takedowns to ground an offensive-kicking McGregor.
If not for that costly grappling mistake Mendes had, the outcome would have been different. However, considering that there were questions on how long Mendes could last (considering he barely had three weeks to train), McGregor was simply the odds on favorite.
The knee injury does also explain why McGregor placed a lot of criticism on original opponent Jose Aldo.
It will be recalled that Aldo was forced to pull out after suffering a rib injury during training but McGregor would hear nothing of it. In fact he said that Aldo was just scared of him.
Such was considered nothing more than trash talk, something expected from McGregor. But as it turned out, there was a real reason behind that flak.
Between a knee injury and a rib injury, there will surely be varying opinions on which injured body extremity would be riskier. Nevertheless, all that is academic at this point.
And while there is no word yet on Aldo's return, looming in the air is a possible rematch between McGregor and Mendes. With the proper billing and preparation time, the match is expected to be different.
As of this writing, there is no word on any plans for that which could be good as well to allow both fighters to rest and heal from their recent grueling match.
