In one of the most dramatic title finale’s in UFC history, the former Strikeforce champion choked bantamweight queen Holly Holm unconscious and with it put to sleep her lucrative rematch with Ronda Rousey.
Advertisement
“Now, another man gets a victory over me, he celebrates it”, McGregor said during the UFC 196 post-fight press conference.
“I think that Ronda now will fight Miesha Tate for the title”. If the Diaz loss is any indication, McGregor, they say, should go back to lightweight, noting that Diaz is but one of the weaker fighters in the division, which has Robbie Lawler dominating the class. Aldo reportedly turned down an opportunity to fight McGregor on short notice at UFC 196 and while I understand it was a business decision, he had the opportunity. Many UFC fans were happy to see Rousey go down, since she often displayed bad sportsmanship and bullied other fighters. Since losing her second meeting with Ronda Rousey in 2013, “Cupcake” has rattled off five straight wins against the likes of Sara McMann and Jessica Eye.
With Tate facing an uphill battle on the judges’ scorecards, she pulled off a come-from-behind victory for the ages, locking in a rear-naked choke on Holm in the fifth round. Holm certainly worked to show she deserved the championship she had – if only for a moment – and tried to shake her adversary away.
Heading into UFC 196 on Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, the logical next steps should the consensus picks in the final two pairings seemed pretty straightforward. Tate found out while she was on a movie set with Holm.
Miesha Tate has finally achieved the pinnacle of her sport’s success.
Having a great deal of parity can certainly work as long as they still have the characters and personalities to make for big stars – like McGregor and Ronda Rousey – that transcend the results in the Octagon.
When she met Zingano to determine a No. 1 Contender for Rousey’s newly awarded UFC Bantamweight Championship, she ate some knees and an elbow en route to a third round TKO loss.
Diaz was a late replacement for lightweight champion Rafael Dos Anjos, who suffered a broken foot two weeks ago, and could well have taken McGregor’s place as the next in line to face the Brazilian.
Holly Holm and Conor McGregor have lost their UFC world titles on a night of upsets in Las Vegas.
“I will never shy away from defeat”, McGregor said. “I took a chance and it didn’t pay off”.
Stockton’s Diaz (20-11) submitted McGregor in the second round after rocking him with heavy punches earlier in the round. I thought I had to be like a pit bull with a bone (with the choke). The MMA fighter was seen partying it up with 10 bikini-clad beauties on Sunday, according to TMZ. Hopefully Diaz, a 22-fight UFC veteran, gets the respect he deserves.
Advertisement
“I’m in it to fight. I wanted to take this challenge”.
