Chad Mendes Broke Thumb In Conor McGregor Fight

Saturday’s UFC 189 was nothing short of extraordinary. From top to bottom, it was one of the best fight cards that uSports has ever seen. And everything was capped off with the Chad Mendes and Conor McGregor interim featherweight title fight.

Chad Mendes Broke Thumb

After dominating majority of the match by keeping McGregor on his back, Mendes was knocked out in the closing seconds of the second round. Until those final moments, plenty believed that McGregor would ultimately lose, with Money teeing off on his face while Notorious was stuck on the ground.

Both clearly sustained damage from the fight, with McGregor receiving a 45-day medical suspension for the cut over his eye. However, it was Mendes that suffered the big injury, as his right thumb was broken in the first-round of the fight, according to MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani.

And depending on whether he needs surgery or not, this could lead to a lengthy 180-day medical suspension, according to MMA Junkie. And this is on top of the initial 21-day sentence, which was handed down to him following the fight.

As for questions about whether Mendes fought hurt — McGregor allegedly had a knee injury prior to UFC 189’s main event — he told Sherdog, “Sometimes your mind’s willing but your body’s not. And that’s basically what happened tonight. There’s not a whole lot I can say about it other than Conor was the better man tonight.”