Conor McGregor, Chad Mendes Rematch Possible?

Connor McGregor may still be savoring his stunning win over Chad Mendes but it seems that the Irishman hid something just to have the fight materialize.

Latest reports claim that McGregor entered the match with substitute opponent Chad Mendes with a handicap, with a knee injury to be precise. Hence such was the reason give by McGregor’s coach, John Kavanagh, as to why live wrestling training prior to the match.

The revelation does now make sense as to why McGregor was hard on original opponent Jose Aldo for pulling out of their match. It will be recalled that McGregor was seen of bragging about how scared Aldo was but as it turned out, the odds would have been somehow been the same despite injuries on different parts of their bodies.

Then again, there would have been a chance that the match may have been cancelled altogether so McGregor does deserve a bit of credit for withholding the injury just to put on a show.

As for the severity of his knee injury, it seems that McGregor was able to show that such is nothing serious owing to his knockout win over Mendes.

Such would have left undesired results if Mendes was successful in his wrestling moves which could have added serious injury to the already fragile knee of McGregor.

“That was the first full test on the knee and he flew through it,” Kavanagh said via MMA Fighting.com. “He was able to deal with some oppositions. There were some scrambles, there was a lot of wrestling and it held up and there’s nothing wrong. So we’re 100 percent confident that it’s perfect now.”

With this revelation, could it be an entirely different if both McGregor and Mendes were 100% healthy? Such leaves the thought of a possible rematch which Mendes believes is due to him.

“There’s not a whole lot I can say about it other than Conor was a better man tonight and I absolutely would love to get back in there with a full camp of training” says Mendes via NESN after their match.

Recall that Mendes was only informed three-weeks before to replace the injured Aldo. Though he did mention he had kept himself in shape, the durability factor eventually came into play and Mendes affirmed such.

“Sometimes your mind is willing, but your body’s not,” a grateful Mendes told reporters after the fight. “This was just such an amazing opportunity for me, and, you know, I took this fight on two weeks’ notice.”

Apparently, Kavanagh feels a rematch with two healthy protagonists would prove to be a better show.

"Do I think a rematch if it does happen down the line would be different? Yes, for both of them” says Kavanagh. 

With Aldo still out indefinitely, it remains to be seen if McGregor and Mendes will figure in a rematch soon. For now it seems that both will have to try and recover from their joust and allow their bodies to regenerate back to full health.