Chad Mendes Injury: Updates on UFC Star's Thumb, Return

Chad Mendes fell to Conor McGregor Saturday at UFC 189 in a bout for the interim UFC featherweight title, and while his popular opponent may have come out on top regardless in Las Vegas, Mendes was compromised by an injury.

Continue for updates.

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Mendes Broke Thumb in First Round Against McGregor

Tuesday, July 14

According to Ariel Helwani of MMAFighting.com, the 30-year-old Hanford, California, native broke his right thumb early in the opening round.

Per Ron Kruck of AXS TV, Mendes faces a lengthy medical suspension until he is cleared by a doctor:

Mendes was subsequently knocked out late in the second round, which dropped his career record to 17-3, while McGregor improved to 18-2.

While Mendes didn't make any excuses following the defeat, his comments to Tristen Critchfield of Sherdog.com suggested he may have been dealing with a physical issue:

"

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. I'd absolutely love to get back in there again and fight that guy with a full training camp under my belt.

"

Jose Aldo was initially supposed to fight McGregor, but when a rib injury prevented him from competing, Mendes stepped in at short notice to challenge the Irishman.

Mendes deserves credit for going up against one of the top fighters in UFC without a proper amount of training, but that decision could ultimately cost him weeks or even months of his career.

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