Conor McGregor: ‘I’ve never really been beaten’

On Saturday, in the main event of UFC 246, Conor McGregor picked up a decisive, first-round victory over Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone. This win separated the Irishman from a 2018 submission loss to Khabib Nurmagomedov, and a 2017 TKO loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in the boxing ring.

In advance of McGregor’s fight with Cerrone, much was made of his win drought. Yet the man himself thinks that narrative was overblown.

Speaking to ESPN immediately after his victory over Cerrone, McGregor downplayed his losses to Nurmagomedov and Mayweather, and claimed he’s “never really been beaten.”

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“Come on, I lost bleeding twice,” McGregor said. “I lost in a boxing match and then I tapped in an MMA fight. I’ve never really been beaten, let’s be real. You’ve never seen me beat, do you know what I mean? You beat a man by concussing him with blows to the nut, putting him down.

“Two matches… that narrative of ‘so long since a win…’ he added. “I’ve been outside the game and sporadic with my commitment to it, but it’s good to be back, most certainly though.

In the same interview, McGregor looked back on the finishing sequence of his fight with Cerrone. He says he takes pride in finishing Cerrone, who holds the record for most head-kick knockouts, with a head-kick.

“I just wanted to go through him with the first shot,” McGregor said. “He dipped under — he didn’t shoot, he just dipped under — fair play to him. I’m happy with the fight. It could have gone many ways. He was planning to head-kick me. He wanted to knock me out with a head-kick, so I’m happy to catch him. I knew he had flaws with that in his own game. What a record he has, to have the most head-kick knockouts. It’s a phenomenal record, so to catch him with the head-kick, Im very, very pleased.”

What do you think of these comments from Conor McGregor?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.com on 1/20/2020.