Conor McGregor on his biggest takeaway from Floyd Mayweather loss

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By Jon Fuentes

Published Aug 28, 2017

What was 'The Notorious One's' biggest takeaway from his loss to 'Money?'

Although he may have not picked up the victory this past weekend (Sat. August 26, 2017), UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor took home a valuable lesson from his loss to Floyd Mayweather in his professional boxing debut.

"The Notorious One" made an unprecedented move in his combat sports career earlier this year, as he would become the first mixed martial arts (MMA) mega-star to ever cross over into the sport of boxing. Not only did McGregor call out one of the greatest boxers of all time for his professional debut, he called out a man that was undefeated in the sport having taken down 49 of the best boxers of all time consecutively. After months of amazing build-up to the fight, things finally got underway from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas this past weekend.

McGregor came out early pushing the pace and landing some decent shots against "Money," connecting to the undefeated boxing prodigy's chin and body on multiple occasions. Towards the latter rounds, however, the heavy-handed Irishman began to gas out, allowing Mayweather to capitalize and land a barrage of unanswered shots in the 10th round for a TKO win.

Despite losing the biggest fight of his combat sports career, McGregor seemed to be in great spirits following the fight. During his post-fight press conference, McGregor got the opportunity to open up and reflect on his loss to Mayweather, and explained what exactly went wrong. Per the Irishman, it was his gas tank in the latter rounds that was really affecting him, not the shots from Mayweather that were repeatedly landing to his chin.

McGregor claimed that the shots he ate from Mayweather didn't hurt, but his gas tank expiring played a big part in his hands being down and his inability to answer the barrage of shots from Mayweather. Upon his return to MMA competition he will study how to get past this 'patch' of fatigue he suffers from in latter rounds (quotes via MMA Fighting):

“If you look at the Diaz 2 fight, I came through that, came back in round four and round five,” McGregor said at the post-fight news conference. “I would have liked to see the end of round 10 and see where it brought us.”

“I think fatigue, it’s like a patch, there’s a patch somewhere in the middle,” McGregor said. “I’m thinking about the Diaz 2 fight, I have this patch where I must overcome, I get a little wobbly. But it’s more fatigue.”

“[Mayweather is] a hell of a competitor,” McGregor said. “Switched it off, kept his head up. You’ve got to take your hat off to Floyd. A hell of a career, congratulations.”