Very rarely in combat sports does a fight live up to its billing. Considering the theatrics and fighting style of Nate Diaz and Conor McGregor, we should’ve known they were going to be the exception.
McGregor, the UFC featherweight champion, defeated Stockton’s Nate Diaz via majority decision in a welterweight bout in the main event of UFC 202 in Las Vegas on Saturday night. The judges scored the fight 48-47, 48-47, and 47-47. CSNBayArea.com also scored the contest 48-47 for McGregor.
“Surprise, surprise mother-------. The king is back,” McGregor said inside the octagon in a postfight interview, echoing a similar comment Diaz made after he won the first fight between the two in March.
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The sequel followed a similar script as the original. McGregor, 28, dominated the first round, landing numerous leg kicks and flooring Diaz, 31, with a left.
The second round was more of the same, as McGregor knocked down Diaz twice more, before Diaz staged a comeback, dominating the final minute of the round.
The third round seemed to be the turning point. McGregor looked gassed, and at times turned his back to retreat from the pressuring Diaz, to which the Stockton native pointed and laughed.
“There’s just another level to him, that toughness and durability that he has crept back in the later rounds,” McGregor (20-3) said. “I’m still happy to come out here with a win. Hell of a fight, he’s a hell of a competitor, he brought out the best in me.”
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McGregor was able to weather the storm in the middle stanza, and came out re-energized in the fourth round. Both men were fatigued in the fifth, Diaz flipped McGregor the middle finger when McGregor backed away from his pressure. Diaz was able to secure a takedown in the final seconds and finished the fight in top position, but it wasn’t enough in the judges’ eyes.
“I thought I won that fight,” Diaz (19-11) said after the contest. “They can’t have a mother------ like me win. I’m too real for this sport.”
Diaz alluded to not having a good training camp leading up to the fight, even mentioning an injury, although he was quick to point out that he didn’t want to use that as an excuse.
With the series tied at a victory apiece, and with both men taking home lucrative purses, Diaz received a disclosed $2 million while McGergor took home a UFC-record $3 million, it’s easy to see that both men want to settle the score with a third fight.
“It’s 1-1. Let’s do it again,” McGregor declared, although he added a condition. “You want this trilogy, it’s on my terms. Come down to 155, we’ll do it.”
“I want number three. I gave him number two. We’re going for number three,” Diaz answered. “Good job today Conor, but we’re going for three.”
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In preliminary bouts, Lodi’s Cody Avila was defeated by Artem Lobov by unanimous decision in a featherweight bout. While Team Alpha Male’s Cody ‘No Love’ Garbrandt impressively defeated Takeya Mizugaki with a first-round TKO.