McGregor reflects on what went wrong in Mayweather fight

With a few days to contemplate what transpired in his fight with Floyd Mayweather, Conor McGregor just released a lengthy statement where he discussed he preparations for the fight and how things might’ve been gone differently. In an Instagram post earlier this morning, McGregor wrote:

“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!

“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 everyone 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 take all these great lessons with me and implement them into my camp going forward. Another day another lesson!

“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.

“Here is a toast of whiskey to everyone involved in this event and everyone who enjoyed it! Thank you to you all! Onto the next one!”

Now it should be said that an 8-10 week training camp is pretty typical in the boxing world. That said, it was always going to be Herculean task for McGregor to compete with Mayweather over 12 rounds, even if he had another couple weeks of preparation.

Mayweather’s stamina has been almost a thing of legend throughout his long boxing career, and it’s largely a credit to his lifestyle and training discipline. Yes, Floyd goes out and parties late, but he also never drinks (as pictured above). Floyd will also go train for hours after hitting a club on any given night. He makes his lifestyle work for him.

It should also be noted that McGregor, like many before him, give credit to Floyd for being much physically stronger than anticipated. For as much as Conor berated Floyd for having a tiny head, a tiny torso, wimpy legs, and brittle hands, he got walked down by a fighter who probably weighed about 20lbs less than him inside the ring.

The fight ended as expected, and Conor acquitted himself as best he could have, so there’s really no shame from that standpoint. And now McGregor will now likely make his return to the UFC, where he belongs, and with his bank account much more bloated than previously was. It’s hard to call anyone a real ‘loser’ in that sense.