The Irish fighter got revenge on Nate Diaz with a unanimous decision victory in a five-round war that left both men bloodied and bruised.
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“The king is back”, announced the outspoken Irishman after the fight. We’ll see. I’m the 145 pound champion. “S*** is about to hit the fan”.
“This was a hell of an important fight for me”, admitted McGregor, “Everyone from the media to the fighters wrote me off this one”. Could this second meeting between the two have just been a prelude?
But some leading MMA experts, including a number of McGregor’s fellow fighters, didn’t have the same numbers.
On Saturday all that anger came pouring out as the two went shot for shot over 5 rounds with the judges giving McGregor the decision. Unfortunately for everyone eagerly awaiting Part III, UFC president Dana White isn’t planning on organizing a trilogy anytime soon.
“I overcame adveristy at 170”, he said. McGregor is still the UFC featherweight champion, but hasn’t defended it since capturing it from Jose Aldo at UFC 194 in December.
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.
Did Nate Diaz get robbed? He didn’t let me know.
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. However, unlike judges Jeff Mullen and Derek Cleary, who scored all of the rounds 10-9, Glenn Trowbridge gave Round 3 to Diaz via a 10-8 score, which resulted in a draw on his card.
Diaz has been called out, and if he wants to fight McGregor again, there is a good chance he will have to cut lots of weight if he wishes to fight McGregor again. Instead of all-out attack, the 28-year-old focused more on slowing Diaz down with repeated kicks to the right leg. Dos Anjos was subsequently forced to withdraw from UFC 196 with a broken foot which allowed Diaz to slide in at the last second. The belt situation is lingering.
McGregor also cleaned up financially with the biggest purse in the history of UFC, and it’ll be interesting to know the PPV figures.
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After earning, a reported $3 million from UFC 202, the Notorious is sure to add to his already astounding net worth of $25 million.
