No excuses, but it's obvious carrying over 23 lbs had a detrimental effect on his stamina. What he has to do is never contemplate going to 170 again.
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No excuses, but it's obvious carrying over 23 lbs had a detrimental effect on his stamina. What he has to do is never contemplate going to 170 again.
He wants to go there and that is his natural weight really. Its a similar weight to what he would be if he cut to 155. He also boasted about his energy levels being better then ever. What the feck happened?
It's his walking around weight. Michael Chiesa cut from 195lbs to 155 for his last fight. GSP walked around at 200lbs when he was fighting. Yet he wouldn't stand a chance at LHW as he'd be fighting guys that are cutting from 230+ and have 4-5 inch height advantages over him.
People cut to get the best advantage.
That shouldn't affect his stamina though. He should feel even fresher at his natural weight. Also, Nate Diaz competes in LW. He likely would be going into any LW fight at the same weight he did in this fight.
Maybe so, look i'm not saying i think he definitely would have beat RDA only that he would have had a better chance of knocking RDA out. Diaz can eat punches all day from pretty much anybody around the same weight.
If it went to the ground yeah i would have fancied RDA to win, it has to get to the ground first though and that isn't guaranteed in any fight.
Its as guaranteed as can be with Mcgregor. Mendes took it to the ground and Mcgregor is a few inches taller then him. Diaz even got him to the ground in the first round.
Definitely i think he has the potential to be a special fighter. But he needs to work on his ground game and make himself more rounded.
He can't stand in the middle of the ring and expect to pick all his opponents off like he does at FW. He basically needs to do the opposite of what RDA did. He's an excellent striker and at FW thats all he really needs with his size advantage but against guys the same size and bigger it'll go to the ground a lot of the time. And he needs to have an answer for that to succeed at the higher weights.
He did alright on the ground in the first round i thought. But anythings possible look at the aldo fight. MsGregor has the potential for quick knockouts against most people. Even RDA.
Just saw the fight. Conor is a great fighter who I've gained a lot of respect for but let's be honest here, RDA would have murdered him in that cage.
Don't think he will ever get two belts simultaneously , let alone three.
Don't think he will ever get two belts simultaneously , let alone three.
I agree. The Diaz bros are two of the most durable fighters out there and the height was always going to be an issue for McGregor in finishing Nate. Got me thinking about Stephens KO'ing RDA.
Turns out this was the only time RDA has ever been knocked out. And hes fought the likes of Bendo, Diaz, Pettis, Cerrone (twice) and Khabib. He has the same number of KO losses as Nate Diaz.
Going up a weight class and trying to finish RDA is not going to be easy.
RDA is as tough as they come really. Not as much difference between him and Nate for taking punches. In fact, most of that LW division is absolutely stacked full of tough all rounders who can win from any position.
After seeing his gas tank against Diaz and Mendes, I agree.
On top of that, I can see him dropping the FW belt to Frankie Edgar who has cardio for days.
In fact, Edgar is probably the biggest winner in all this after Diaz showed him way whilst throwing a spanner into the works for Conors LW and WW title shot and sending him back to FW.
Yeah, RDA would've mauled him. He has more power and can take more hits too.
I rewatched the fight. The 1st round seemed a lot closer than I remember. Oddly, I actually thought Conor was more dominant in the first half of the 2nd round than he was in the 1st. Diaz found his range, landed 1 big shot, and combined with Conor being knackered it was game over.
I was under the impression Mcgregor walked around at 170+ when he was at FW, and of course he's bigger and more muscular than we've ever seen him now, I find it hard to believe he didn't cut weight to weigh in at 168? I think I saw an interview with wonderboy suggesting he thought Mcgregor walked around at close to 180.
I don't think it's fair to assess Mcgregor's ground game based on how the fight finished. He was badly rocked from those punches and also had absolutely no energy left, not the best situation to demonstrate your ground skills.
I was under the impression Mcgregor walked around at 170+ when he was at FW, and of course he's bigger and more muscular than we've ever seen him now, I find it hard to believe he didn't cut weight to weigh in at 168? I think I saw an interview with wonderboy suggesting he thought Mcgregor walked around at close to 180.
I don't think it's fair to assess Mcgregor's ground game based on how the fight finished. He was badly rocked from those punches and also had absolutely no energy left, not the best situation to demonstrate your ground skills.
Christ. What a complete load of drivel.
Funnily enough Brendan Schaub and Rogan on their podcast were in agreement he'd beat Lawler because he's too quick for him. Bet they've changed their mind now.
He's doing what we see many do which is go for desperation takedown because they're taking too much punishment on the feet. Mcgregor calls them panick wrestlers. There's no way in the midst of a fight he's actively decided he wants to lose by submission rather than knockout so he'll not only attempt a takedown, but make sure the takedown attempt fails so he gets submitted.
Maybe he shouldn't be a heavy heavy favourite, but nearly all the UFC fighters who picked their winner for the fight chose Mcgregor. You'd think they'd know a thing or 2.
Yeah. Saying he got taken down because he wanted to lose by sub rather than KO is idiotic. He was on the verge of being KO'd and that was just the boxing equivalent of trying to clinch i.e. buy some time till the end of the round.
Fwiw any posts in this thread by Nucks and Gol (well, any thread for Gol) are probably best ignored. I don't think either know what they're talking about. Hilarious to see people calling fighters pussies from behind a keyboard.
Why would it ever be "part of his plan" to lose 2 rounds? If he lost 2 you'd have to back McGregor to win at least 1 of the other 3 and therefore he's cost himself a fight unless he stops it. Given he has rarely stopped anyone by knockout he's basically relying on Conor to tap out. Which whilst it happened would be an odd approach to take in a fight. Surely his goal would be to win every round but concede he might win 1 or 2. Not basically give 2 away. I've seen him come out and say without a camp he knew he was going to struggle in the 1st round as he hadn't sparred which is fair comment, he didn't say he was willing to lose it though.
Fair play to McGregor in handling all this, he was spot on in his Instagram post last night. Whilst I didn't expect the likes of Aldo, Edgar (who hasn't slated him in fairness) to fight him on short notice they're hardly ones to criticise him.
Watching it again last night and Diaz dominated the fight really I'm pretty confident he'd beat Conor again if they met. The blood made CM look more dominant in that first round than he was. He won it but he didn't do that much to worry Nate. The 2nd round Nate moved into his comfort zone and was literally slapping him around. He's a better boxer and has a far superior ground game. He's just a better fighter.
All this is impossible to say though. I don't doubt Conor won Round 1 he wasn't dominant no but it was a round for him. I'd argue judging by the post fight stuff McGregor and his camp are intelligent enough to know it went wrong and realising where is the key. He went for a KO hence the whole not using energy efficiently stuff. It's good to hear stuff like that as it implies they would change their game if they fought again. I agree Nate at the moment has a better all round game but Conor could improve and be more competent in other fields. Nate isn't unbeatable and if McGregor got back in the gym and worked on his weaknesses, McGregor's main problem is his biggest strength is pretty much a pointless asset for him at the moment. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but it was a bad match up really. I don't think it's easy to say he'd win if they met again though, people can always improve and I think McGregor has the right mindset to do that I don't think he's as ignorant to weakness as someone like Rousey for example may be.
Aye he was massively overconfident in his ko power and gassed trying to live up to his mystic mac prediction imo.
The template for beating a Diaz brother has long since been established by other fighters. You don't stand and trade with them. You hit and move.
Shooting in on Diaz in those circumstances was giving Diaz the submission. Being rocked and shooting for a take down against Nate Diaz is suicide. Nate and his brother have made careers out of wearing on fighters, waiting for the inevitable takedown and having the fighter tied up before the fight hits the canvas. McGregor says hes a Diaz fan so he should have known that.
To me it felt like his priority shifted from winning the fight to not getting knocked out on his feet. For someone with Conors reputation, it's far easier to come back from a submission loss to one of the Diaz bros then it's would have been to have got knocked out and have people ask questions about his chin.
Fwiw I was pulling for McGregor too before anyone calls me a hater.
You can buy yourself time in the clinch but you're almost certainly in trouble if you have a weak ground game and shoot a half assed takedown with no drive against Diaz.
Going to the ground while dazed and tired is one stupidest places you can go to try and buy time against Diaz. The alternative was getting knocked out on the feet but his best chance (albeit a slim chance) back into the fight would have been if he kept the fight standing, tried to create space and tried to find his feet. But it meant gambling on being KO'd, hence what I think was a shift in priority from winning to not being knocked out.
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No fighter goes out to lose a round, it just doesn't happen.
I doubt he went out to lose the first round. I think he accepted that he will have a slow first round or two due to his lack of sparring/training camp and went in there thinking to take minimal damage and come out stronger later. Plan worked. Nate isn't that dumb shit that can't count to 10 after all!
He said he would preserve the first round, let Mcgregor come out and attack and then from the second round on start to work his way into the game. Also said he didn't expect Conor to go down in the second (In the octagon interview) so probably expected an even second round or in Mcgregors favour. He was aiming for the KO/Submission in this fight and clearly felt he could get it vs Mcgregor, which he did.
Dana looked more upset then the losers at the post fight press conference.
There's a difference between preserving and letting Conor win the first couple rounds though. I can't predict what he meant, what I'd imagine though is he would start slow and hope Conor might of done similar. Then he'd excel in the later rounds. I'd be hugely surprised if "part of his plan" was to lose the first couple of rounds, especially to a world champion athlete.
The Irish 
....They just love to knock their own. Reading comments on social media and in the papers, and they are loving this. Snide comments knocking the man. Wonder what they'll do with their Tapout t shirts now
....They just love to knock their own. Reading comments on social media and in the papers, and they are loving this. Snide comments knocking the man. Wonder what they'll do with their Tapout t shirts now The Irish
Hopefully the fair weather fans fcuk off now.
Hopefully. That and hopefully the trend of Irish lads growing beards and wearing suits, to look like him, stops. That is/was beyond cringe.
Proud of Conor and what he has done. Look forward to his next fight. He's become more interesting now imo
He admitted he expected Conor to approach the game the way he did, which isn't a far stretch considering what Conor said and how je has approached fights throughout his career. His idea seemed to be to ride out the initial flurry of offense from Mcgregor, work his way slowly into the game and then when Conor inevitably wore out take advantage and go on the offense himself, confidant in his ability to KO Mcgregor once he is tired. Like he said though, he expected it to happen later and he didn't expect Conor to gas so early.
From what I have watched of the post fight interviews, whilst he respects Conor and how je went about the fight and his attitude, he doesn't particularly rate him as a great fighter. Fair enough really after he won the fight convincingly.
Hopefully Mcgregor can learn from this loss and stop neglecting his defence/BJJ/takedowns. He seems like his attitude is right but the proof will be in the pudding in his next few fights.
http://www.mmafighting.com/2016/3/7...egor-have-no-power-in-his-hands-frankie-edgar
Aldo calling Conor a pussy and having no power in his hands... I used to respect Aldo but he is actually beyond a joke now with these stupid comments. He says "anywhere anytime" then pussies out and now that Conor has lost, he comes out and kicks a man when he's down? Conor was nothing but respectful after he took Aldo's soul, but Aldo is being a high school girl.
Hopefully the UFC give the shot to Edgar, he deserves it and hasn't been a classless idiot.
Aldo calling Conor a pussy and having no power in his hands... I used to respect Aldo but he is actually beyond a joke now with these stupid comments. He says "anywhere anytime" then pussies out and now that Conor has lost, he comes out and kicks a man when he's down? Conor was nothing but respectful after he took Aldo's soul, but Aldo is being a high school girl.
Hopefully the UFC give the shot to Edgar, he deserves it and hasn't been a classless idiot.
Aldo. 
As someone said in the comments section:Aldo.
"He's right, Conor's hands are made of soap... he washed Aldo up"
Nailed it!As someone said in the comments section:
"He's right, Conor's hands are made of soap... he washed Aldo up"
We're gonna have to agree to disagree on this. I can never ever see a fighters plan being to lose the 1st 2 rounds of a fight (or concede them) you've basically lost 40% of a fight with 60% left to play for, hardly great odds. It may of been his game plan to start slow but I still think he'd want to win every round possible including 1 and 2. It's a vry intelligent camp he's under and thatd be a very stupid tactic.
Aldo's words are very stupid considering the guy got knocked out in 13 seconds. TO play devils advocate though McGregor arguably talked himself into many opportunities as well. Aldo is just doing the same thing
He did win the second though.
He said himself he went into panic mode. Just because it wasn't a good decision doesn't mean we can create an absurd motive for why he went for a very common reaction to getting rocked.
Diaz said himself the reason he has so many submission finishes is the normal reaction when he hurts someone is for them to shoot for a takedown.
Also is a prick though. Really has no humility and respect in defeat.