Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz put on one of the greatest fights we’ve ever seen in the UFC on Saturday night, with the Dubliner coming out on top via majority decision.
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On Saturday night at the T-Mobile Arena, McGregor was staring defeat in the face as Diaz clobbered him against the fence at the end of the third round. Since that fight, he fought Diaz twice at welterweight, two weight classes up from featherweight.
The fight McGregor wanted to talk about was a trilogy fight against Diaz – yet at lightweight.
“I’m not doing (expletive) until we go for round three”, he said.
The Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) revealed an initial £2.3m fee for McGregor before that was topped up by UFC sponsorship money made from Reebok (Figures courtesy of MMA Junkie). He told Joe Rogan in his post-fight interview that he wanted another crack at new 155-pound champion Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205 in NY at Madison Square Garden (Cerrone defeated the champ by unanimous decision at UFC 178). He could fight at 145 pounds, or 155 or against boxer Floyd Mayweather.
They were supposed to battle again at welterweight at the landmark UFC 200, but that bout was canceled after McGregor announced his retirement and refused to meet with media. I felt McGregor had done enough to win. I got that all on tape so just to set it off, not to make excuses because I’ve got that all video’d [sic] up but he should have finished me off.
Regarding the fight, Diaz stated in a backstage interview, “I thought I won the fight, but they gave it to him …”
When asked if he’d be happy to drop back down to his more natural weight, Diaz said: “Whenever”.
We will be looking forward to the next fight between these two which would be the tiebreaker: McGregor v. Diaz III.
Sensing that he was behind heading into the final round, Mr. Diaz tried to rally back, managing to take down Mr. McGregor in the waning moments of the fight but the featherweight champion would hold on for the win.
McGregor came into the fight expecting it would go the distance. The interim champion is a man I KO’d in 13 seconds.
“I’ve got to sit down and see what piece of the pie they’re offering me now, and take it from there”. A damaging loss to McGregor, regardless of the fact that he remains the 145-pound champion, would have knocked the company’s most important star down a peg.
“Boy, is he one tough [guy]”, McGregor said of Diaz. It was a back and forth war, built on the hostilities between the pair, and with the two tied at one a piece, fans have been left thirsty for the trilogy.
McGregor’s immediate reaction to the victory was to target a third meeting with 31-year-old Diaz. But I don’t think it’s a very good business move for him to be taking any other fights.
“The Notorious” Conor McGregor came out to “Hypnotize” by Notorious B.I.G which suited the occasion because Nate Diaz made his entrance to “I’m A Souljah” by 2PAC.
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McGregor seems to be open to a plethora opportunities.
