Conor McGregor has this week suffered his second defeat knockout defeat within a round as a head coach on The Ultimate Fighter opposite Michael Chandler.
The Irishman is returning to the UFC octagon later this year, and has begun promotion for his comeback by coaching against his opponent Chandler on the famed reality show. But as of this week's sophomore episode, he has yet to even get a fighter out of the opening round after suffering another stoppage loss.
McGregor is training two teams of prospects trying to earn UFC contracts at bantamweight and lightweight, while Chandler has a squad of veterans who have competed in the octagon before. And this week, after Trevor Wells and Timur Valiev's fight was cancelled due to a cold sore, the Irishman's top 135lb seed Mando Gutierrez took on Chandler's No.4 Cody Gibson.
Unfortunately for McGregor, his losing run extended to 0-2 when Gutierrez was viciously stopped by flying knee after a back-and-forth opening three minutes. The Michigan native struggled early with Gibson's size and experience, but began to out-strike his rival as the round wore on and he found his distance.
But with just over a minute until the end of the round, he was dropped by a beautiful knee thrown by Gibson that left him unable to defend himself from gnarly ground-and-pound. McGregor declared that he still feel Gutierrez can work his way to a world title, but was frustrated by the result going against him for a second time.
"It was a tough fight, that was," McGregor told cameras afterwards. "Cody had plenty of experience inside the octagon throughout the years and then the flying knee was a good shot. Mando's a great little fighter, though. I would have liked him to stand his ground a bit more.
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"He was on the float a bit too much for my liking and we were working on cutting the octagon in camp. It was a tough one, but Mando is a great little goer and I look forward to seeing his second chance." McGregor could be seen in post-fight footage telling Gutierrez that it was a "great fight" and declaring that "it ain't over until we win."
"Cody went out there and passed the test with flying colours," Chandler said of his man's victory. "He listened to our corner, he was stingy and diligent getting Mando up against the cage. Him landing crisp, precise strikes started to increase the self-doubt in Mando right away, take away that ring generalship and then finishing with a beautiful flying knee where you couldn't ask for any better."
Last week, McGregor's charge Nate Jennerman was knocked out within nine seconds by former UFC fighter Roosevelt Roberts. The pair competed in the first fight of the season, but it wasn't to be for the Irishman's prospect who was handed one of the fastest knockout defeats in the show's history.
