Chad Mendes says he did not believe Conor McGregor would ever come back, and the fact that he has suggests McGregor genuinely believes he can win — a mindset Mendes thinks could produce something close to the fighter’s best form.
Mendes spoke to MMA Junkie ahead of UFC 329.
I didn’t think he would come back, honestly. Conor’s got money, Conor’s got the fame. In my mind there’s no reason Conor needs to come back and fight. He’s proven everything he needs to prove and I know there were some fights booked that kept falling through. I’m like, ‘I just don’t know if this is ever going to happen. So much time has passed to where we are now I just didn’t see it happen.’ I am excited we are this close.
Mendes, who faced McGregor himself at UFC 189 in 2015, drew on his own comeback experience in BKFC after four years away from combat sports.
I do think it’s difficult, but I don’t think it’s impossible. I was gone for a long time and I was second-guessing myself when I got back in there for bare knuckle. If you do the right things for enough time, a lot of it comes back.
