UFC 189

UFC 189: Mendes vs. McGregor
The poster for UFC 189: Mendes vs. McGregor
PromotionUltimate Fighting Championship
DateJuly 11, 2015 (2015-07-11)
VenueMGM Grand Garden Arena
CityLas Vegas, Nevada
Attendance16,019
Total gate$7,201,648
Buyrate825,000
Event chronology
UFC Fight Night: Machida vs. Romero UFC 189: Mendes vs. McGregor The Ultimate Fighter: American Top Team vs. Blackzilians Finale

UFC 189: Mendes vs. McGregor was a mixed martial arts event held on July 11, 2015, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Background

The event took place during the UFC's annual International Fight Week.

The event was expected to be headlined by a UFC Featherweight Championship bout between the then champion José Aldo and Conor McGregor. On June 23, it was reported that Aldo suffered a rib fracture and pulled out of the bout in light of the injury. On June 30, it was confirmed that Aldo indeed pulled out of the bout and that the interim championship bout would take place at this event. The bout remained the event headliner. On July 1, photographs of Aldo's scans were released and indicated that he had indeed suffered a fractured rib. On July 10, White claimed that Aldo did not have a broken rib as "every x-ray he sent out was of an old injury". He reaffirmed that Aldo had a "bruised rib and cartilage" and that the biggest problem was the weight cutting process being complicated by the injury. They later fought at UFC 194.

The co-main event featured a UFC Welterweight Championship bout between then champion Robbie Lawler and top contender Rory MacDonald. Their first fight at UFC 167 ended in a split decision victory for Lawler.

Matt Brown was briefly linked to a bout with Nate Diaz at the event. However, in mid-April, Brown announced that the pairing had been scrapped. Brown remained on the card against Tim Means.

A welterweight bout between Jake Ellenberger and Stephen Thompson was initially expected to take place at this event. However, in mid-May, the bout was made the main event of The Ultimate Fighter: American Top Team vs. Blackzilians Finale which took place a day later at the same venue.

John Hathaway was expected to face Gunnar Nelson at the event. However, on June 23, Hathaway pulled out of the bout due to an injury. This prompted a shift in another welterweight bout on the card as Brandon Thatch was pulled from his fight against John Howard to face Nelson, while Cathal Pendred was announced as Howard's new opponent. Pendred had previously fought only 28 days before the event, when he defeated Augusto Montaño at UFC 188.

Jeremy Stephens missed weight on his first attempt, coming in 3.5 lb overweight at 149.5 lb. After having made no attempts to cut further, he was fined 20 percent of his fight purse, which went to Dennis Bermudez.

Results

Main Card
Weight class Method Round Time Notes
Featherweight Conor McGregor def. Chad Mendes TKO (punches) 2 4:57
Welterweight Robbie Lawler (c) def. Rory MacDonald TKO (punches) 5 1:00
Catchweight (149.5 lb) Jeremy Stephens def. Dennis Bermudez TKO (flying knee and punches) 3 0:32
Welterweight Gunnar Nelson def. Brandon Thatch Submission (rear-naked choke) 1 2:54
Bantamweight Thomas Almeida def. Brad Pickett KO (flying knee) 2 0:29
Preliminary Card (Fox Sports 1)
Welterweight Matt Brown def. Tim Means Submission (guillotine choke) 1 4:44
Welterweight Alex Garcia def. Mike Swick Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 30–27, 30–27) 3 5:00
Welterweight John Howard def. Cathal Pendred Decision (split) (29–28, 28–29, 29–28) 3 5:00
Bantamweight Cody Garbrandt def. Henry Briones Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–27) 3 5:00
Preliminary Card (UFC Fight Pass)
Flyweight Louis Smolka def. Neil Seery Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–27) 3 5:00
Lightweight Cody Pfister def. Yosdenis Cedeno Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 29–28) 3 5:00

Bonus awards

The following fighters were awarded $50,000 bonuses:

Reported payout

The following is the reported payout to the fighters as reported to the Nevada State Athletic Commission. It does not include sponsor money and also does not include the UFC's traditional "fight night" bonuses.

^ Jeremy Stephens was fined 20 percent of his purse ($8,000) for failing to make the required weight for his fight with Dennis Bermudez. That money was issued to Bermudez, an NSAC official confirmed.

Records set

The event's weigh-ins took place before a record crowd estimated at 11,500.

The event had a $7,200,000 gate, which broke the record for a mixed martial arts event in the United States. The final attendance for the event was 16,019, a record for Nevada, which had hosted 91 prior UFC events.

Lawler vs. MacDonald II

The rematch between Robbie Lawler and Rory MacDonald for the welterweight championship was named 2015's Fight of the Year by Sherdog and MMA Fighting. The fight was exceptionally brutal - Lawler's lip was deeply lacerated by the end of the fight and MacDonald's nose bled profusely after being broken by the end of the first round, leading him to fight with what has been described as a "crimson mask" of blood. At the end of the fourth round, both fighters stared each other down in the middle of the octagon before being ushered back into their corners. After being nearly finished at the end of the third round, Lawler landed a clean punch on MacDonald's already-broken nose in the fifth round, causing MacDonald to collapse in pain and winning by TKO. Going into the fifth, MacDonald was ahead on all three judge's scorecards, meaning that Lawler likely needed to win by finish.

The fight was awarded Fight of the Night honors, and met with immediate acclaim. MMA journalist Dave Doyle proclaimed it "an instant classic," and speculated that the fight was MMA's equivalent of Arturo Gotti vs. Mickey Ward. Within two years, a fan poll conducted by ESPN voted it the best fight in UFC history, narrowly edging out Jones vs. Gustafsson. Numerous sources regard it as the greatest fight in the history of the promotion, and it was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame's Fight wing in 2023.

Milestones

This was the first event to feature the UFC's Reebok fight kits, which were announced on December 2, 2014 and officially revealed on June 30, 2015.

For the main event, the entrance music was performed live. Sinéad O'Connor sang "Foggy Dew" for McGregor and Aaron Lewis and his band played "Country Boy" for Mendes.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Staff (2015-07-12). "UFC 189 draws announced attendance of 16,019 for record $7.2 million live gate". mmajunkie.com. Retrieved 2015-07-12.
  2. ↑ "Top MMA Gates". Nevada State Athletic Commission. September 16, 2016.
  3. ↑ "Pay-per-view". mmapayout.com. February 10, 2016. Archived from the original on June 27, 2011. Retrieved July 29, 2015.
  4. 1 2 Thomas Gerbasi (2015-01-30). "Aldo-McGregor set for International Fight Week in July". ufc.com. Retrieved 2015-01-30.
  5. ↑ Matt Erickson (2014-09-25). "UFC 189 set for July 11 in Las Vegas following 2015 'International Fight Week'". mmajunkie.com. Retrieved 2015-01-31.
  6. ↑ Staff (2015-06-23). "Champ Jose Aldo injured, questionable for UFC 189 bout with Conor McGregor". mmajunkie.com. Retrieved 2015-06-24.
  7. ↑ Matt Erickson (2015-06-30). "Jose Aldo officially out of UFC 189; Chad Mendes meets Conor McGregor for interim belt". mmajunkie.com. Retrieved 2015-06-30.
  8. ↑ Staff (2015-07-01). "Here's a picture of the rib that forced champ Jose Aldo out of UFC 189". mmajunkie.com. Retrieved 2015-07-02.
  9. ↑ Shaun Al-Shatti (2015-07-10). "Dana White: Jose Aldo 'did not have a broken rib,' the x-rays he released were of an 'old injury'". mmafighting.com. Retrieved 2015-07-10.
  10. ↑ Staff (2015-02-18). "Champ Robbie Lawler meets Rory MacDonald at UFC 189 as event's second title fight". MMAjunkie.com. Retrieved 2015-02-18.
  11. ↑ Jason Nawara (2013-11-17). "Robbie Lawler beats up Rory MacDonald and nabs the split-decision". middleasy.com. Retrieved 2015-02-18.
  12. ↑ Staff (2015-04-08). "Nate Diaz returns to welterweight, meets Matt Brown on stacked UFC 189 in Las Vegas". mmajunkie.com. Retrieved 2015-04-08.
  13. ↑ Staff (2015-04-15). "Matt Brown says he's no longer fighting Nate Diaz at UFC 189". mmajunkie.com. Retrieved 2015-04-15.
  14. ↑ Staff (2015-04-21). "Matt Brown vs. Tim Means added to UFC 189". mmajunkie.com. Retrieved 2015-04-21.
  15. ↑ Staff (2015-05-15). "UFC Fight Night 70 moves to Florida, gets Machida-Romero; TUF 21 Finale set for Vegas". mmajunkie.com. Retrieved 2015-05-15.
  16. ↑ Thomas Gerbasi (2015-06-23). "Welterweight shuffle at UFC 189". ufc.com. Retrieved 2015-06-23.
  17. 1 2 Staff (2015-07-11). "UFC 189 weigh-in results: Mendes vs. McGregor make weight then pulled apart". mmaweekly.com. Retrieved 2015-07-11.
  18. ↑ "UFC 189: Mendes vs. McGregor". Ultimate Fighting Championship. Retrieved 2015-06-30.
  19. ↑ Matt Erickson (2015-07-12). "UFC 189 bonuses: 'Fight of the Night'? It's Dana White's 'Fight of the … Ever'". mmajunkie.com. Retrieved 2015-07-12.
  20. 1 2 Staff (2015-07-13). "UFC 189 salaries: Conor McGregor and Chad Mendes both earn flat $500K". mmajunkie.com. Retrieved 2015-07-13.
  21. ↑ Martin, Todd (31 December 2015). "Sherdog.com's 2015 Fight of the Year - Lawler vs. MacDonald". Sherdog. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
  22. ↑ Raimondi, Marc (29 December 2015). "2015 Fight of the Year: Lawler vs. MacDonald". MMA Fighting. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
  23. ↑ Davidson, Neil (2023-04-09). "Canada's Rory MacDonald headed to UFC Hall of Fame for bloody UFC 189 title challenge". St. Albert Gazette. Retrieved 2026-07-14.
  24. ↑ Tucker, Bryan (2015-07-12). "Robbie Lawler vs. Rory MacDonald UFC 189 scorecard". MMA Fighting: UFC, Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) News, Results. Retrieved 2026-07-14.
  25. ↑ Doyle, Dave (2015-07-13). "UFC Weekend Aftermath: Pondering the price of an instant classic". MMA Fighting: UFC, Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) News, Results. Retrieved 2026-07-15.
  26. ↑ Okamoto, Brett. "Lawler-MacDonald II voted best fight in UFC history". www.espn.com. Retrieved 2026-07-14.
  27. ↑ "Sherdog's Top 10: Best MMA Fights of All-Time". Sherdog. 2016-06-16. Retrieved 2023-04-25.
  28. ↑ "The Greatest MMA Fights of All Time". Tapology. 2020-12-02. Retrieved 2023-04-25.
  29. ↑ "8 Best Fights In UFC History". BetMGM. 2022-09-09. Retrieved 2023-04-25.
  30. ↑ Staff (2015-06-30). "What you need to know about new UFC-Reebok 'fight kit' uniforms and gear". mmajunkie.com. Retrieved 2015-06-30.
  31. ↑ Steven Marrocco (2015-07-12). "UFC 189 results: Conor McGregor gets title with second-round TKO of Chad Mendes". mmajunkie.com. Retrieved 2015-07-12.