CONOR MCGREGOR has paid respect to Floyd Mayweather after being stopped by him in 10 rounds last weekend, and even suggested the boxing superstar would do well in the UFC.
McGregor, a phenomenal mixed-martial artist, made his professional boxing debut against Mayweather at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and was outclassed and outgunned by the 40-year-old.
After his initial post-fight comments, the enigmatic Irishman has not said anything about the fight until earlier today when he posted a classy message on social media.
“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!” he said.
“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.”
McGregor, who made UFC history earlier this year by holding titles in two divisions simultaneously, badly ran out of steam against Floyd, who has not fought since 2015.
He admits that making the change from five five-minute rounds to three 12-minute rounds was perhaps too much of a leap and argues that, with more time to properly prepare and adjust, he could have performed differently.
“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,” he said.
“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 everyone 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 all take these great lessons with me and implement them into my camp going forward. Another day another lesson!”
Despite the vulgar build-up, the two combatants shared a mutual respect after the fight. McGregor had previously questioned Mayweather’s size and strength and his ability to have a ‘real’ fight. However, after shipping plenty of shots off of the unbeaten American, Conor admits he was wrong about him.
“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,” he mused.
“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! On to the next one!”
