Conor McGregor får motta lovord från brasilianskt håll.
UFC-mästaren uträttade historia denna söndag när han äntrade boxningsringen för att möta den obesegrade legenden Floyd Mayweather i den mest uppmärksammade fighten i mannaminne. Matchen slog dessutom ett antal försäljningsrekord. Irländaren förlorade dock matchen genom teknisk knockout i tionde ronden och det har varit en del delade meningar om hur mycket beröm han förtjänar för sin insats. Någon som inte var nådig var hans forne rival , den tidigare UFC-mästaren Jose Aldo som efter matchen Twittrade följande:
— Jose Aldo Junior (@josealdojunior) August 27, 2017
Jose Aldo var dock en av av få i sitt gym som ansåg att McGregor förtjänar att hånas för sin insats mot Mayweather. Hans legendariske tränare, ledaren för det berömda Nova Uniao, Andre Pederneiras uttryckte efter matchen följande enligt MMAfighting:
If I told you I didn’t think Conor had any chance I’d by lying. I thought he had a chance in the first two rounds if one hand landed and rocked (Mayweather), but I knew that if it went past that it would be over because he doesn’t have the experience. When (Mayweather) got his hands up and forced McGregor to throw several punches in his guard, the fight was over. He ‘ate’ (McGregor’s) cardio.
Jose Aldos lagkamrat vid Nova Uniao, UFC-mellanviktaren Thales Leites, är enig med sin coach om att McGregor överträffade alla förväntningar.
It was a good fight. What surprised me was that Conor fought well. He won the first three rounds. We expected (Mayweather) to win, but he lasted long and fought hard. He did what everyone wants, he got his lottery ticket and made a lot of money.
I thought Floyd would knock him out earlier, in the fifth or sixth round, but Floyd is not wrong. He’s 40, hasn’t fought since 2015, so Floyd had everything to lose. He fought smart. I don’t understand much about boxing, but I didn’t see him connect any hard punch to knock him out. He was touching and touching him until (McGregor) couldn’t take it anymore because he gassed.
En annan av Aldos träningskamrater vid Nova Uniao är den tidigare UFC-lättviktaren Felipe Oliveira. Han gav endast McGregor 0,1 procents chans att segra innan matchen, men blev förvånad av irländarens timing och förmåga att hålla rätt avstånd till sin motståndare:
He surprised me more than I expected. We know that the cardio for MMA is different than for other martial arts, but he fought well. He won three or four rounds. The only thing that would have made the show better was the stoppage, but that’s how it works in boxing. But congratulations to McGregor, he showed he has a good boxing and that MMA fighters can hang with other sports.
Enligt Pederneiras och Leites kan McGregor se matchen mot Mayweather som en moralisk seger efter att i sin boxningsdebut lyckats gå 10 ronder mot en av de största boxarna i historien.
Pederneiras uttryckte detta med följande:
No doubt about it. Anyone who underrates Conor as a fighter is crazy. He has proven a long time ago that he’s a great fighter. (…) If you put Mayweather to fight 12 rounds (in MMA) against Conor, I don’t think he goes past the first. He goes to his sport and lasts 10 rounds. I think Mayweather was the one who lost.
Leites instämmer:
For sure, it was a victory for Conor. He showed the strength of the MMA athlete, fighting for the title with a guy like this and going 10 rounds. It’s hard, maybe a boxer wouldn’t last three rounds in MMA. Everybody wins, especially Conor.
