Diaz looked for the straight left to the body but McGregor followed up with another leg kick.
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(AP Photo/Isaac Brekken). Nate Diaz, left, punches Conor McGregor during their welterweight mixed martial arts bout at UFC 202 on Saturday, Aug. 20, 2016, in Las Vegas.
This time around, McGregor came out of the blocks livelier, with the animosity between the pair clear as they did not touch gloves before the action began. McGregor agreed instead to fight Diaz in a welterweight bout, and Diaz finished the flyweight champion with a rear naked choke in the second round, ending McGregor’s 15-match winning streak.
“I came here to fight”.
Two of the judges had the fight scored at 48-47 to McGregor, while the other scored the fight 47-47.
With the blood barely dried from their historic fight at UFC 202 both Nate Diaz and Conor McGregor are willing to do it all again.
Despite his success at 170 pounds, Cerrone in his post-fight interview said he’d be willing to drop back to 155 and fight champion Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205 on November 12 in Madison Square Garden – the first UFC card to be held in NY. If you want this trilogy its on my terms. He didn’t let me know.
“I proved the class difference but that toughness and durability crept in the later rounds”, said McGregor.
Diaz landed 271 total strikes compared with 190 for McGregor. Diaz continued to attack in the third and, for the final 90 seconds of the fourth, they stood in the center of the cage and exchanged blows. McGregor again was on the back foot but had success with counter strikes as Diaz closed the distance.
“Sometimes I feel like a bit of a fat-belly – I’m definitely going to go back down a weight”.
With the final round remaining, Nate’s camp instructed him he needed to win the round to win the fight, implying that the scores were locked up 2-2. He dropped Diaz three times inside the first two rounds but showed patience not rushing in for the quick finish.
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McGregor became obsessed with avenging his first UFC loss and a rematch at UFC 200 was quickly arranged. The Stockton native had taken the bout on 11 days notice after McGregor’s original opponent, former UFC lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos, pulled out with a broken foot. He knocked Diaz down once in the first and twice in the second, but Diaz poured it on at the end of the second to gain some momentum.
