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Conor McGregor uplifted Ryan Garcia after his loss to Gervonta Davis this past Saturday. The former UFC champion was in attendance for the megafight at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas that ended after Davis pulverized Garcia with a brutal body shot in the seventh round.
Conor McGregor gives words of encouragement to Ryan Garcia
One of the first people Garcia encountered after his loss was McGregor, who gave credit to ‘King Ryan’ for his ‘crafty’ performance. And from what he saw from Garcia, the ‘Notorious’ one hoped there was a rematch against ‘Tank’ in the future — with one significant change.
“He’s 1-0 on you, you are the two biggest names in the division,” said McGregor. “I want to see it again. I want to see it again now, and I want to see it with no rehydration clause. Seriously.
“Mate, all the respect in the world to you,” continued McGregor. “You’re the future, you’re the future of this game, and I’m going to watch you all the way. Wish you all the best.”
Did the rehydration clause affect Garcia?
The rehydration clause was a point of contention for Garcia during negotiations for the fight against Davis. The 24-year-old revealed that Davis’ team implemented a 10-pound rehydration clause ‘at the last minute,’ which meant both fighters could not weigh more than 146 pounds for their catchweight (136 pounds) fight.
In their first weigh-in, Davis was 135.1 pounds and Garcia was 135.5 pounds. Both fighters weighed in again, and Davis hit 144.1 pounds, while Garcia came in at 144.9 pounds. Though some, including McGregor, thought the rehydration clause could have affected Garcia, he said it was not an excuse for his loss.
“From an honest perception of it, I didn’t feel too good,” said Garcia during his post-fight press conference. “I felt a little weak going into the ring. My legs didn’t feel too much under me, but once the fight got going, it kind of all came together. I can’t really pin it on the [rehydration clause] too much. It is what it is. I signed the contract, and that’s that.”
The loss to Davis saw Garcia fall to 23-1 as a professional.
When is Conor McGregor returning?
Conor McGregor has not fought since suffering a first-round TKO loss to Dustin Poirier after he broke his leg in their trilogy fight at UFC 264 nearly two years ago. Now recovered, the former two-division UFC champion announced a return to the Octagon against Michael Chandler after the pair finished filming the upcoming season of The Ultimate Fighter.
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