I know it has been for over two weeks already, but this is still a hot topic right now. Conor McGregor lost to Nate Diaz! “The Notorious” failed to back himself up this time.
In the first round of the fight McGregor landed some hard punches on Diaz, especially on his eyes. Diaz was bleeding badly and his blood blocked his sight. McGregor boxed heck out of Diaz in the first round.
At beginning of the second round, McGregor looked like out of shape. He slowed down his attack and it gave Diaz chance to fight back. Diaz seized his chances and landed some critical strikes on McGregor and made him turn to a wrestler: McGregor tried to take him down. On the ground McGregor was totally dominated by his opponent. He couldn’t take Diaz punches so he made a mistake to turn his back to him. Then Diaz put that rear naked choke on him and the fight was over.
In the post fight interview McGregor explained his loss because he put too much energy in the first round so he was gassed in the second round and he was still adjusting fighting a bigger opponent like Diaz. When the reporter asked him how he felt after his first loss in a long time. He said that this life, “you lose some and win some” but he also said he would be back like a champ again. It is interesting to compare McGregor’s reaction after loss to Ronda Rousey’s and Jose Aldo’s. I wrote about Ronda Rousey in my earlier blogs, so you guys should be familiar with her. Jose Aldo was defeated by McGregor in 13 seconds in November last year. Rousey shied away after her loss. Aldo called out McGregor right after his loss and celebrated McGregor’s loss on Twitter. Regard to these facts above, ironically I start to like McGregor because he is more like a man to me. Yes he talked trashes and boasted himself but he always showed respect to his opponent, not like Aldo. He also swallowed his pride and face his loss like a fighter, not like Rousey. Anyway, I do respect all the fighters because they bore what normal people couldn’t bear, but after the loss I did something on McGregor. He had every UFC fan’s attention before this fight and he took his loss with class under everyone’s eyes. At least he didn’t run away.
I have to say that was a great fight. McGregor’s fans are finally quite and his haters are happy. Everyone is happy except for McGregor’s fans. This fight gave UFC fans more fun stuff to talk about. There are also multiple potential match-ups in UFC 200.
We will see if Aldo can his rematch with McGregor or McGregor can get his revenge on Nate Diaz in UFC 200.
I am impressed with his humility following his loss, especially since that is a big component of the UFC is making publicity for yourself, so people will pay to watch the fight. Someone who boasts then is a sore loser is infinitely better for marketing yourself as a fighter, but he stuck to his values.
I did not see the fight, but I saw a lot of the coverage afterwards. Holly Holm lost the same night correct? But anyways, I do very much agree with you that I did not like McGregor before the fight, but I now really respect him for how he faced the reporters and accepted the loss. I have no problem with people who talk trash as long as they admit when they have been bested.