With just a few hours to go until UFC 189, now is as good a time as any other to take a look back and how each of the four main-eventers for UFC 189 got where they are now. Consider this three-part series a UFC 189 preview video docu-drama. Sure. Let’s go with that. Obviously we start with the main-event and the man who has gotten so much attention it’s now bordering on sickening, Conor McGregor:
It was McGregor’s UFC debut and he arrived with a shit-ton of hype from the overly enthusiastic Irish fans. Yeah, he quickly showed why he was more than just hype. Marcus Brimage really never had a chance.
Having arrived and dominated, McGregor suffered a torn ACL and was out for some time. He returned in spectacular fashion when he beat Diego Brandao in his UFC and Dublin return. But it was his next fight against Dustin Poirier where serious questions would be answered. Poirier was ranked #5 in the world at that time. This was the fight, more than any other, where McGregor’s quick wit came through, with his famous “Call me Mystic Mac” line being so perfect it had to have been planned.
Finally, his status solidified, Conor’s main-event future was on the line when he faced off with veteran Dennis Siver as the top attraction of this past January’s UFC in Boston. Going against a major NFL game, McGregor did what he’s continued to do, making easy work of Siver while also bringing in some of the highest ratings UFC has ever had on Fox Sports 1.
Interesting in the Siver fight is Siver’s body type. In many respects it’s identical to that of Mendes and it’s clear that McGregor has no problem with it at all. Now, of course, Siver isn’t an elite wrestler, but it does show that if the fight with Mendes stays standing just how much of an advantage McGregor should have.
