Conor McGregor Intent on Beating Nate Diaz – UFC News

By JM “Shade” Daguio

Conor McGregor is the biggest star in the UFC and also the undisputed UFC featherweight champion, after his shocking one-punch destruction of long time pound for pound mainstay and former champion Jose Aldo. After his biggest win, McGregor wanted bigger challenges with even bigger rewards, he challenged then-lightweight champion Rafael Dos Anjos but Dos Anjos had to bow out due to injuries and perennial lightweight contender Nate Diaz replaced Dos Anjos on 11 days’ notice, the UFC had to put the bout as a welterweight fight due to Diaz’s lack of time to cut weight.

McGregor agreed and was very confident going into the fight, he did not have a problem making weight nor had a problem with the length of training camp, it should be a breeze. But as most upsets starts, underestimation usually is the cause. Diaz had problems with Conor’s powershots but was able to wisely survive the initial attack, Diaz took over the 2nd round were he caught McGregor with a clean one-two combo, Diaz started to pin McGregor to the cage as Diaz saw the Irishman wobble on his feet.

Diaz then landed another beautiful one-two combo which prompted McGregor to shoot for a desperation takedown. That takedown signaled the end, Diaz is a legitimate Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, getting a clean mount and submitting McGregor was a breeze. Fight over.
Now, McGregor looks for revenge, even at the same weight he lost from.

In recent media promos, McGregor is still confident but has refrained from making ridiculous predictions and jokes against Diaz. “I just got into saying I was going to stop the guy in the first round,” McGregor explained. “If I really look at it, I thought he has a solid chin, he’s durable, very experienced, he has the size and the weight on me. I think that was the wrong thing, to go in expecting the first round, and I did go out to KO him in the first round. I marched forward and backed him up and teed off on his head. I did what I said I would do, but respect to him. He stuck it out, he was durable, he was experienced, he weathered the storm.”

“But this time, I’m still going to march forward, I’m still going to press him, I’m still going to bust him, there’s just going to be a lot more in my tank. I’m going to be a lot more prepared for a man that can stay in there with me. Even still, I struggle to give him past round three.”

McGregor is also confident of his multi-division title aspirations

“Realistically I should be a two-weight UFC world champion,” McGregor said Friday on a UFC 202 conference call. “If I fought Rafael dos Anjos, if he didn’t pussy out of that last one and showed up, the shots I cracked Nate with in the first eight minutes of that [fight] would’ve KO’d Rafael dos Anjos stiff. That’s no question. I would be sitting here right now as a two-weight world champion.”

McGregor’s reserved but confident demeanor is a good sign, at this point he has to make sure he does not focus on finishing the fight quickly because of Diaz’s knack for durability, McGregor will have to be wiser in picking his shots and avoiding Diaz’s quick counters and effective jabs, McGregor also will have to wisely pace himself so as not to gas quickly although McGregor’s demise wasn’t that he emptied his gas tank, it was because he didn’t expect Diaz to have more pop in his punches and maintained his one-two combo despite being battered in the first round, long story short, Diaz was the fresher fighter despite being on the receiving end of the attack, attributed mainly his legendary cardio and ability to throw a boatload of punches.

It’s still a very intriguing fight, McGregor has somewhat toned down but it has not changed McGregor’s focus, he truly believes he can beat a legit MMA veteran 2 weight classes above him, do we doubt McGregor? or will he return the favor and shock us again?

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