The judges scored the fight 48-47, 48-47, and 47-47. But the two 48-47 scores were enough to give the embattled and outspoken McGregor the win.
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“I don’t know what Nate was doing when he goes out there and boxes”.
“I hit him one or two [punches] back to the body and that sort of swayed it in my favor, but it was a hell of fight”.
Johnson (22-5) flattened Teixeira with the shot, forcing the referee to call an early end to the fight. I didn’t get to train.
McGregor arrived to the press conference on crutches, explaining that he injured his shin through the multiple leg kicks he landed on Diaz. “I’m ready for [No. 3]”. What I’m trying to tell you is that if there isn’t any foot-swiping, no elbowing, or no chin-ups…
McGregor, the lightweight champion at 145 pounds, said he wants their third bout to be fought closer to his preferred fighting weight than the 170 of the first two fights.
Diaz explained: “A couple of times I felt he was done, you know, and I didn’t finish it off. I’m not really sure”, Cerrone, who defeated Rick Story on the main card of UFC 202, said in his post-fight scrum. “Come down to 155, we’ll do it”.
Meanwhile Diaz will earn a minimum of $2 million for the fight.
The Irishman edged out Diaz in a five-round thriller in Las Vegas on Saturday, to avenge his UFC 196 defeat to the American. We’ll see. There’s a lot of stuff in the pipeline. If Dana White is to believed, he must defend his featherweight crown against Jose Aldo or be forced to relinquish it, but it wouldn’t be like the UFC President to make a statement then have a sudden 180 when the winds change.
Either way, White seemed pleased with what is in early contention for the fight of the year. “When I fight Nate again, it will be 155 pounds – it will be on my terms this time”.
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It appeared as though that training wasn’t helping around the third round when McGregor started to lose some steam, but he got a second wind and came out guns blazing in the fourth round. Come back down and I’ll see you at UFC205 or drop the belt! “It was an absolute epic fight”.
