The prefight expletives, preening, and scowling of two of the UFC’s most brash, boisterous, and popular fighters was expected. The result of the fight was not.
Nate Diaz, the UFC veteran and Stockton native, upset UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor via second round submission (rear naked choke) in a welterweight bout at the main event of UFC 196 in Las Vegas on Saturday night.
“I’m not surprised m------------,” Diaz (19-10) boasted in a postfight interview.
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“I know it was going to be a slow start,” said Diaz, who was listed a +300 underdog. “And I expected it.”
The Stockton native couldn’t be blamed for stumbling out of the gate. Diaz, 31, took the fight on less than two weeks notice after McGregor’s original opponent, UFC lightweight champion, Rafael Dos Anjos, pulled out of the contest with a broken foot.
McGregor (19-3) dominated the first round, consistently finding a home with his left hand. The 145-lb title holder cut Diaz above his right eye.
The second round was following a similar script until Diaz buckled the Irishman with left hands of his own. A staggered McGregor, fighting 25 pounds over his usual weight class, tried to shoot on Diaz, but Nate was able to secure the full mount position. From there, McGregor gave up his back and Diaz was able to sink in the rear naked choke to which McGregor tapped at 4:12 of the round.
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“As soon as I got warmed up it felt like it was going to start to turn around and it was going to and it happened,” Diaz said.
McGregor, 27, was humble in his first UFC loss.
“I respect Nate. He took the fight on short notice. He was efficient. I wasn’t efficient. That was it I feel.”
The fight was a lucrative one for both fighters. McGregor made a disclosed $1M, the highest disclosed purse in UFC history. Diaz earned $500,000, and in his eyes, a new crown.
“There’s a new king of this m----------- now and he’s right here.”
In other NorCal action, Team Alpha Male product Darren Elkins defeated Chas Skelly via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-27, 30-26) in a featherweight fight to improve to 20-5 in the preliminary portion of the card. It’s Elkins’s second consecutive victory.
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In the co-main event, Miesha Tate defeated Holly Holm via fifth round submission (rear naked choke) to win the UFC women’s bantamweight championship. Ronda Rousey is expected to get a title shot later this year. Tate has fought Rousey twice in her career, losing both times.