Diaz came on strong again in the final round in a frantic paced five minutes for both competitors, but both men went at it, making it a very close one to score. With his current and rising popularity, McGregor’s net worth has also seen a major leap, even placing the star in the Forbes’ list of world’s highest-paid athletes.
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Both fighters looked ahead to a probable decider between the pair but McGregor wants the fight to be on his terms next time. “I mean, how can they do that?” We’ll see. There’s a lot of stuff in the pipeline. S**t’s about to hit the fan, I feel.
“I thought I won at least three rounds to two”, Diaz told reporters afterwards.
McGregor put on a masterclass of mixing kicks with his trademark punches in the first two rounds until Diaz threatened a comeback, which forced the UFC featherweight champion to show ruggedness that had never previously been drawn from him. “I got the whole thing on tape”. Each has a win over the other, thereby setting up a trilogy fight. The victory made Aldo the interim featherweight champion, but McGregor isn’t ready to commit to facing the Brazilian fighter.
If he chooses Diaz over Aldo next, it would make sense to strip him of the title, as the division has been held up enough as it is.
“If I was Conor, I’d defend my title”, he said. “It was a decision, he didn’t go out and get it”. “And that was built through hard work and I’m going to capitalize on that”.
I’m starting to see a trend here.
From press conference altercations to verbal warfare during the weigh-in, the main card of UFC 202 had one of the most intense build-ups in recent times and the fight did not disappoint. With $3 milllion for McGregor and $2 million for Diaz you can be certain they have atleast 5 million reasons to do it again.
Only once has McGregor failed to pick up a post-fight bonus since joining the UFC, his 2013 victory over Max Holloway which was the only time in his career he had gone past the second round before tonight’s five-rounder.
Just like Diaz, McGregor was just as adamant that a trilogy must happen between the two in the future.
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Rather than defend the belt he just won, McGregor set his sights on claiming the lightweight title and spoke of challenging for the welterweight strap before his fight with Rafael dos Anjos fell apart at the 11th hour and gave birth to his rivalry with Diaz.
