UFC fighter Brendan Schaub during his ‘Fighter and the Kid’ podcast gives his opinion on the upcoming UFC interim title fight.
Conor McGregor, 26, comes into the interim 145-pound title fight on a 13-fight winning streak. He has finished his last three opponents — Diego Brandao, Dustin Poirier and Dennis Siver — via TKO.
Fighting out Team Alpha Male in Sacramento, Mendes is 8-2 in the UFC. Both losses came in championship fights against Aldo, in January 2012 and October 2014

Schaub on McGregor and the fact that he has been training for all these months for a striker/grappler like Aldo and will instead face a top wrestler like Mendes:

“I think he’s terrified,”

“I think the one fight that he did not want — it happened.”

“Every fight Conor has had has been a great matchup for him. This is the first fight where you’re like, ‘Oh….’ You’re talking about the No. 1 ranked guy in the world, and there’s a reason why Conor McGregor leapfrogged him for a title shot. Chad Mendes is a nightmare for him,”
“The thing about Conor is he does get hit in fights. He does get hit. Who is the hardest hitter in the division? Chad Mendes. So, if he hits ya, it’s not going to be as much fun as getting hit by Dennis Siver and Diego Brandao.”

“I would bet my entire life savings that his camp was like, ‘nope,’ and the UFC said, ‘this is what we’ve got. You’re taking this fight. Jose backed out. Conor, you have to take this fight.’
“How is Conor going to react when he’s down two rounds to nothing? All the sh– he does, I love it, man. I’m a Conor fan. You know this. I love the guy, so this is not a knock on Conor,”
“But, I don’t know how he’s going to react when he’s getting punched in the face, he’s on the bottom of half guard and things are not pretty. You’re not on your feet doing…cool kicks. The crowd is going ‘oh sh–. Everything we thought is happening right now. Chad is grinding him out, taking him down.’ Now you’re down three rounds. How are you going to respond?”