UFC 202 Event Thread: Diaz v McGregor 2 (Information in OP)

Todd Toddington III

McGregor via Submission

Its funny/pathetic (take your pick) that people who don't like mcgregor just latch onto one or two things he does (or is done to him) in a fight and create this ridiculous fantasy around it to hammer him with their vitriol. Against Diaz 2, Mcgregor recenters a few times becomes conor running away from the fight, he's a pussy. Against Diaz 1, rear naked choke, he's a blue belt at bjj or worse. Against Mendes the tko becomes a fixed fight or the ref called it early. Gets taken down by mendes, cant beat short wrestlers, he got lucky. Against Poirier the tko becomes another fixed fight or an illegal blow (it wasn't). It goes on...Aldo was fixed, how could one punch knock the champ out? Against Siver, couldn't do it in the first round, he must be sh1t. Siver took him down (conor is up immediately btw), his ground game is non existant. Lads, give it a rest, you just look stupid. This place isn't even the worst, try reading youtube comments, absolute nonsense at times over there. Admittedly I'm a fan but even I can recognise talent in fighters who I don't like. /rant

Todd Toddington III

McGregor via Submission

StringerBell wrote: »

How many do you see doing that?

62345 +- 1

Tigger

McGregor via Submission

maximoose wrote: »

Yep, definitely said this. I think it was after round 3? I feared the worst for McGregor after that advice

I thought at the time "no clinching kick the leg" turns out I shouldn't be a coach for a UFC division champ and JK should
In fairness I didn't realise Conor had kicked the shin off himself

StringerBell

Diaz via Decision

I do hope that we get a little break between this and the 3rd fight.

I would like to see Conor fulfill his responsibilities and defend the 45 belt. I would like to see him fight someone along the lines of Cowboy at 55 before challenging for the belt but that obviously won't happen. Not sure Eddie will still hold the belt by the time Conor is going for the title either.

He clearly has no interest in fighting Aldo so it will be interesting to see how that plays out over the coming weeks, Dana has been pretty clear, and firm on it. Tensions seem to be simmering there as it is and this could bring a lot of things to a head. Take down all the window dressing and it is impossible to make an argument for Conor not defending his belt, he is the division champion, he cannot keep the belt but refuse to fight in the division.

Going from the improvement in him over the last 6 months and how dominant he was even before that it looks like the toughest match up for him at 145 is himself and making weight. He has to drop the belt though if he won't do it.

Delighted for Artem (to move away from Conor), and Rumble, what a beast that man is cannot wait to see him and DC go at it again. I have a little bit of love for No Love so happy to see him come through aswell, shame Perry didn't get his ass handed to him. I enjoyed the card in general actually, not a mind blowing event but very enjoyable overall, better on the rewatch.

StringerBell

Diaz via Decision

Todd Toddington III wrote: »

62345 +- 1

Exactly.

Todd Toddington III

McGregor via Submission

Mcgregor to defend at 145 then go on to fight Khabib (think he'll wrap Eddie up in the 7 levels of sambo hell). That will be a fight worth watching

CurryFlavoured

StringerBell wrote: »

I do hope that we get a little break between this and the 3rd fight.

I would like to see Conor fulfill his responsibilities and defend the 45 belt. I would like to see him fight someone along the lines of Cowboy at 55 before challenging for the belt but that obviously won't happen. Not sure Eddie will still hold the belt by the time Conor is going for the title either.

He clearly has no interest in fighting Aldo so it will be interesting to see how that plays out over the coming weeks, Dana has been pretty clear, and firm on it. Tensions seem to be simmering there as it is and this could bring a lot of things to a head. Take down all the window dressing and it is impossible to make an argument for Conor not defending his belt, he is the division champion, he cannot keep the belt but refuse to fight in the division.

Going from the improvement in him over the last 6 months and how dominant he was even before that it looks like the toughest match up for him at 145 is himself and making weight. He has to drop the belt though if he won't do it.

Delighted for Artem (to move away from Conor), and Rumble, what a beast that man is cannot wait to see him and DC go at it again. I have a little bit of love for No Love so happy to see him come through aswell, shame Perry didn't get his ass handed to him. I enjoyed the card in general actually, not a mind blowing event but very enjoyable overall, better on the rewatch.

Completely agree, fighting the same guy 3 times in a wrong is a bit silly/kills some excitement and it's unfair that he hasn't defended yet. Defend it in your next fight or give up the belt. He should fight Aldo, but I guess he and the UFC know that if he loses that then it takes the shine away from a LW title fight and the trilogy fight.

jigglypuffstuff

Diaz via Decision

StringerBell wrote: »

I do hope that we get a little break between this and the 3rd fight.

I would like to see Conor fulfill his responsibilities and defend the 45 belt. I would like to see him fight someone along the lines of Cowboy at 55 before challenging for the belt but that obviously won't happen. Not sure Eddie will still hold the belt by the time Conor is going for the title either.

He clearly has no interest in fighting Aldo so it will be interesting to see how that plays out over the coming weeks, Dana has been pretty clear, and firm on it. Tensions seem to be simmering there as it is and this could bring a lot of things to a head. Take down all the window dressing and it is impossible to make an argument for Conor not defending his belt, he is the division champion, he cannot keep the belt but refuse to fight in the division.

Going from the improvement in him over the last 6 months and how dominant he was even before that it looks like the toughest match up for him at 145 is himself and making weight. He has to drop the belt though if he won't do it.

Delighted for Artem (to move away from Conor), and Rumble, what a beast that man is cannot wait to see him and DC go at it again. I have a little bit of love for No Love so happy to see him come through aswell, shame Perry didn't get his ass handed to him. I enjoyed the card in general actually, not a mind blowing event but very enjoyable overall, better on the rewatch.

You know, I was skeptic at first about McGregor V Aldo 2...but lets be realistic here, Jose Aldo will not take that left hand and be standing the way Nate Diaz was, he'll crumble again

Diaz v McGregor 2 was what I expected from the Original McGregor V Aldo fight....a war. While I was delighted for Conor, the fight itself was underwhelming

I would rather he gave the belt up and went straight to the the 155lb...id love to see him in the LW division, I bet it would make for some entertaining fights...At 145 he completely dominates...at 155 he'll have to be much more strategic (Going on his 170lb bouts with Diaz that is)

scudzilla

pone2012 wrote: »

You know, I was skeptic at first about McGregor V Aldo 2...but lets be realistic here, Jose Aldo will not take that left hand and be standing the way Nate Diaz was, he'll crumble again

To be honest i dont think anybody in the 145 division can take much of Conors punches, and he sure can take a shot, how he didn't go down at the end of the third

Outlaw Pete

McGregor via Submission

Dillon Danis came across really sound on the MMA Hour.

Can't believe Nate wouldn't shake his hand after the fight. If anything it should be the other way around.

Tigger

McGregor via Submission

CurryFlavoured wrote: »

Completely agree, fighting the same guy 3 times in a wrong is a bit silly/kills some excitement and it's unfair that he hasn't defended yet. Defend it in your next fight or give up the belt. He should fight Aldo, but I guess he and the UFC know that if he loses that then it takes the shine away from a LW title fight and the trilogy fight.

Aldo was 14 months between Chad and Conor
By the same measure Conor needs to give him his shot by 02-17 to be fair

TimRiggins

McGregor via Submission

Tigger wrote: »

Aldo was 14 months between Chad and Conor
By the same measure Conor needs to give him his shot by 02-17 to be fair

You'd imagine Aldo's record of pulling out of fights is another contributing factor of why Conor doesn't want the fight.

CurryFlavoured

Tigger wrote: »

CurryFlavoured wrote: »

Completely agree, fighting the same guy 3 times in a wrong is a bit silly/kills some excitement and it's unfair that he hasn't defended yet. Defend it in your next fight or give up the belt. He should fight Aldo, but I guess he and the UFC know that if he loses that then it takes the shine away from a LW title fight and the trilogy fight.

Aldo was 14 months between Chad and Conor
By the same measure Conor needs to give him his shot by 02-17 to be fair

Conor's fit, healthy and has fought twice since Aldo. Different situation, Conor is flat out deciding not to defend his belt.

Muahahaha

Diaz via Decision

Anyone care to speculate why in the first Diaz match Conor just couldnt knock him down whereas this one he did it three times?
Was it better accuracy or better strength in his arms? Combination of both maybe? Seems something has changed as in the first fight he did still light Diaz up but never managed to put him off his feet. In this fight it looked like he could do it with ease relative to the first one.

TimRiggins

McGregor via Submission

Muahahaha wrote: »

Anyone care to speculate why in the first Diaz match Conor just couldnt knock him down whereas this one he did it three times?
Was it better accuracy or better strength in his arms? Combination of both maybe? Seems something has changed as in the first fight he did still light Diaz up but never managed to put him off his feet. In this fight it looked like he could do it with ease relative to the first one.

More so better accuracy imo, in the first fight he has just loading up with every shot, in this fight he wasn't loading up as much and was back to normal, beautiful technical striking.

Outlaw Pete

McGregor via Submission

Muahahaha wrote: »

Anyone care to speculate why in the first Diaz match Conor just couldnt knock him down whereas this one he did it three times?
Was it better accuracy or better strength in his arms? Combination of both maybe? Seems something has changed as in the first fight he did still light Diaz up but never managed to put him off his feet. In this fight it looked like he could do it with ease relative to the first one.

I'd say the fact that he had never fought at welterweight before had a lot to do with it. He had been expecting to fight at 155 and then all of sudden with just eleven days notice he had to jump into the cage with someone Nate's size. Just little or no prep for it. Whereas for this fight he has known since March he was fighting at 170 and so could spar with training partner's Nate's size and height in prep.

jigglypuffstuff

Diaz via Decision

Muahahaha wrote: »

Anyone care to speculate why in the first Diaz match Conor just couldnt knock him down whereas this one he did it three times?
Was it better accuracy or better strength in his arms? Combination of both maybe? Seems something has changed as in the first fight he did still light Diaz up but never managed to put him off his feet. In this fight it looked like he could do it with ease relative to the first one.

It was timing and accuracy in honesty, he caught Nate at the perfect moment each time.....Conor's shots based on pure power arent enough to flatten Nate alone (Although many others would fall, and have)..so its a case of right place, right time...the combination = success

If you watch it back you'll see just how well timed and accurate those punches are..it was really spectacular to be fair...a further factor was he waited for those opportunities rather than trying to chase them like the first fight

wonderfullife

McGregor via Submission

sonofenoch wrote: »

Anyone else think Diaz is straight out lying when he said he was injured pre fight

Nope.

I think there are very few times a fighter doesn't arrive in a fight un-injured. Most are carrying some sort of knocks, bruises, hairline fractures etc. I think it's impossible to do a committed, hard fight camp without picking up some injuries.

What i do find extremely interesting is that he claims he videotaped the injuries extensively.

If we're playing armchair psychologist, what does that tell you?

If you're heading into a fight with video of injuries, ready to make an excuse if you lose..... I don't think there's any possible way to spin that positively.

With Conor, and i know this after talking to his mam, he was 100% carrying an injury and chest infection into the first fight. He didn't once use either as an excuse.

That's a mentality thing if you need to have excuses documented before the fight.

callaway92 wrote: »

Highly unfair. Rogan commentated on it brilliantly.

Literally could not disagree more.

Watch any of Rogans calls on UFC202 or frankly any card. When a fighter drops their opponent he always goes "OHHHH!" in that loud, shrieking voice.

Now watch Conor v Nate 2 again.

Conor dropped him 3 times and instead of doing the excited "ohhh", he stayed very quiet. In fact, he said "he tagged him Mike". When he dropped him again he said "he tagged him again".

Yet at the end of Round 3, when Nate was unloading a volley of shots (most of which were slipped, most of which missed), he got into the loud shrieking voice again.

Worst still, at the end of Round 5 with 10 seconds on the clock he made a huge deal over that takedown. In reality, a takedown with nothing behind it means very little.

He also completely glossed over Conors trip in taking Nate down.

When you watch that fight with the Mute button on, it's actually closer to a 4-1 fight. Rounds 1, 2 and 4 are without debate, and the cleaner work in Round 5 came from Conor. Without question.

You really have to watch those Nate Diaz flurries with the mute button on and see how many clean, hard shots landed.

Rogan tried to make out that Conor was badly hurt and in danger of being stopped, when the reality is he wasn't badly hurt at any stage. The only time Nate rocked Conor was in the first fight with the 1-2. Otherwise Conor didn't look in deep trouble whatsoever.

There's a clear conflict of interest here. Go through Rogans twitter and Instagram if you have the time. Nate Diaz has been out either at Rogans gigs or with Joe socially on at least 3 occasions in the last 2 years.

They are friends!! With lots in common....weed, jiujitsu etc.

I've said this before on this thread - Conor doesn't suffer fools. He watched that first fight a million times i'm sure and Rogan shrieking like a fan-girl when Nate won, his joy at Nate winning....didn't go un-noticed. At every opportunity since then, Conor has tried to rip the microphone out of Rogans hand. I fully expect no different whoever he fights next. Rogan is in the bad books, rightly so.

StringerBell wrote: »

Think the 1-1 came from Goldberg, but you really shouldn't pay too much attention to the commentary unless you want it to skew your own analysis of the fight.

Rogan gets excited in general, and that riles Goldberg up. They are pretty entertaining though, if not always perfect.

Rogan has gotten ridiculously excited before during Conor fights and no complaints, why does it bother anybody this time?

As above, listen to the commentary again. Listen to how he tried to shape the narrative of that fight.

I can't speak for anyone else but it bothers me that Rogan is incapable of leaving his friendships and allegiances off the mic. He's close with Nate, Ian McCall, Brendan Schaub, to name a few, and he's not capable of being impartial.

He needs to either learn to do it or step aside. You can't be calling fights differently depending on if your friend is fighting (or how high you are!).

The Golden Miller wrote: »

Hard to take this result seriously when you consider that if the fight went on another round McGregor would have been on the canvas half choked to death. He was a beaten man by the end and the clock saved him from getting a proper pounding thereafter. But this is the problem with MMA and boxing etc. The round and fights have been shortened so much that if you're "technically" the better fighter you can get success from an early flurry and hide and run for the rest of the fight. The paramenters in boxing and other combat sports are always being moved to take the advantage away from the grinder and the guys who fight an honest fight with heart.

The reality is McGregor can't actually go toe to toe with Diaz and come out on top if they are put in a ring and it's a fight to a KO or TKO. It's one thing winning on points if you're clearly the better fighter and the other guy is struggling, but there's little to celebrate from the winning camp if it's a close call and the tide is going against you. Disingenuous really.

The Golden Miller wrote: »

Ye, seems the narrative from those supporting McGregor. Ridicule those of a different opinion and close down debate if anyone points out that no matter what McGregor can throw at Diaz he'll never really be able to beat him.

You're being ridiculed because your opinion is condensed as follows:

If there were different rules, more rounds or a fight to the death then Nate would win.

Guess what? You're probably right. He has insane cardio and a rock chin. If they fought to the death in a 3 hour scrap for their lives, the smarter money would be on Nate.

As things stand, both fighters fight in a sport. With rules.

Upon every re-watch, taking commentary and loyalty aside, it becomes even more impressive to watch what Conor did and become much closer to 4-1 Conor.

Try, if you can, to mute the sound and watch it without your Conor hatred.

Lukker- wrote: »

Connor Wallace and his coach deserve enormous credit for helping develop McGregor's jab. His stand up looks much more rounded with it, especially against south paws and it will stand to him for the rest of his career IMO.

His head movement and evasiveness was the best we've seen from him so far too.

Outlaw Pete wrote: »

Dillon Danis came across really sound on the MMA Hour.

Can't believe Nate wouldn't shake his hand after the fight. If anything it should be the other way around.

Dillon gave a phenomenal interview. Can tell how much Conor means to him and vice versa from it, and from all the pictures of them together pre-fight.

Loved him saying he'll fight Nate in MMA or BJJ. Before people slag him off...... All he said was that he's the type of man who won't back down. He never once said he thinks he will beat Nate in MMA. All he said is Nate called him out, made it personal, refused a handshake and if he's on Nates hit list then he guesses Nate goes on his hit list.

I really liked his reply. There was no bravado. No "i'll smash him". None of that. Just that he won't back down to a man calling him out.


This fight brought home the true meaning and value of team work.

Conor Wallace for 8 weeks was Nathan Diaz. His style, his output, his work-rate, they were all things Conor had to bring to the table to help McGregor. It must have been physically punishing and mentally demanding to throw away the style of boxing he's so used to, and to purely mimic Nate.

We saw the results. Conors lead hand right jab worked a treat. His counters were timed beautifully. His body punching was hard and accurate. His 2 and 3 shot combinations were flowy.

A lot of the credit for that has to go to Conor Wallace. All those shots were ingrained in McGregors muscle memory from countless drilling.

And as Dillon Danis said on the MMA Hour, it was countless hours spent in the clinch and grappling in prep for this fight. Remember in the first fight , after Nate rocked him, he landed multiple unanswered shots in the clinch. This time around, Conor stayed calm, composed and focused in the clinch. Stuffing takedowns, using underhooks and head movement to smack Nate with cutting elbows and hooks. It was actually beautiful to see.


What i like even more is that Conor McGregor is the type of man who is loyal to his own. Conor Wallace and Dillon Danis may very well leave the Team now to pursue BJJ and boxing but you can bet any amount of money Conor will have their backs. When you cross Conor - like the boxer Van Heerden did or like Rogan did - there is no coming back. But these boys not only had the time of their lives this summer, Conor will be there for them every step of their journey in their careers.

Honestly, i'm a massive fan and all that, but he's some man for one man.

mdwexford

Rewatched there for the first time.

Conor obviously won r1, Nate finished r2 well but nowhere near enough to nick it. r3 was a lot closer than I thought live, up until 60 seconds left there was nothing in it. Nate obviously had a very strong last minute but I don't think Conor was ever in danger of being stopped, he dodged a lot of shots and rolled several others. To score it 10-8 for Nate is madness.
r4 was Conor, r5 was close takedown made sure it was a Nate round.

All in all I can't see how anyone that understands how fights are scored didn't give Conor the nod.

I also don't want to see him fight Nate again next.
Alvarez is the fight I want to see him possibly make history being a double champion at the same time. I don't think they'll strip the FW belt regardless.

DC vs Rumble is also a fight to look forward to. KOing Glover like that is pretty sick. Shows what a chin DC has to have gotten out of r1 with Rumble.

froog

Muahahaha wrote: »

Anyone care to speculate why in the first Diaz match Conor just couldnt knock him down whereas this one he did it three times?
Was it better accuracy or better strength in his arms? Combination of both maybe? Seems something has changed as in the first fight he did still light Diaz up but never managed to put him off his feet. In this fight it looked like he could do it with ease relative to the first one.

i think his all round conditioning and strength were just better this time. his prep for the first fight seemed unstructured and even reckless, stuffing his face with steaks and whatnot. he wasn't even loading his punches this time and he still looked like he was hitting harder. also he was butchering that lead leg of diaz's, probably ****ed up his balance.

StringerBell

Diaz via Decision

Watching it live GSP had Nate winning, hindsight is 20/20 and of course on a rewatch, or 7, the fight and winner becomes clearer each time, but on an initial viewing I find it hard to criticize many views on the fight (barring the obviously ridiculous)

It was a very close fight and a match up I would like to see down the road a little again but right now Conor has some business to take care of, beat Aldo again, defend your belt, go challenge for the 155 one and attempt to make history then have a final fight with Diaz, plenty of time.

wonderfullife

McGregor via Submission

mdwexford wrote: »

Rewatched there for the first time.

Conor obviously won r1, Nate finished r2 well but nowhere near enough to nick it. r3 was a lot closer than I thought live, up until 60 seconds left there was nothing in it. Nate obviously had a very strong last minute but I don't think Conor was ever in danger of being stopped, he dodged a lot of shots and rolled several others. To score it 10-8 for Nate is madness.
r4 was Conor, r5 was close takedown made sure it was a Nate round.

All in all I can't see how anyone that understands how fights are scored didn't give Conor the nod.

I also don't want to see him fight Nate again next.
Alvarez is the fight I want to see him possibly make history being a double champion at the same time. I don't think they'll strip the FW belt regardless.

DC vs Rumble is also a fight to look forward to. KOing Glover like that is pretty sick. Shows what a chin DC has to have gotten out of r1 with Rumble.

agree. 1,2,4 for Conor and 3 for Nate are not disputable. Just think it depends how you want to score Rd. 5. I've noticed a lot of very respected analysts giving round 5 to Conor, for a 4-1 win.

They both got each other to the mat and neither made much use of it.

Conor landed the cleaner, more hurtful shots and the Takedown at the end was largely meaningless. I'm not saying it's a ridiculous decision to award round 5 to Nate but it's the only round in dispute.

The more you watch the fight, the more shocking that 47-47 becomes. It should have been a clear unanimous decision.

StringerBell

Diaz via Decision

Rounds 2 and 5 were very close, but I think they were awarded correctly in each case

Call Me Jimmy

Conor was not having to reach so much for shots. In the first one he was almost jumping across to nate with fully loaded shots, in this one he had a bit of patience and was less predictable, kicked his legs so nate had to come back at him, as he came forward conor could land some clean ones. As I said in the first one it was mostly conor reaching and nate ducking back, it was predictable for nate.

StringerBell

Diaz via Decision

Timing, he timed them much better, more accurate and for whatever reason (combination of whatever niggle he had, and Conor reducing his mobility with leg kicks) Nate was not able to do as good a job at rolling with the punches, as Firas said he didn't use his check hook at all which was a big move for him in the first fight.

0byme75341jo28

On first viewing the fight was very close.

I had it 2-2 after round 4, whereas my brother (a diaz fan) had it 3-1 McGregor. Really could have went either way but in the end McGregor winning was definitely the right decision.

On another note, I see no chance in hell of Aldo beating McGregor in a rematch. He's on another level to everyone else in the featherweight division.

TimRiggins

McGregor via Submission

StringerBell wrote: »

Rounds 2 and 5 were very close, but I think they were awarded correctly in each case

I don't even see how people think round 2 was close. Conor dominated and landed clean strikes for 3 and a half minutes and Nate crept back into it towards the end.

As well as the awarding of Round 3 as an 10-8 round to Nate. That was a disgrace. Conor was nowhere near finished and still managed to land clean counter strikes throughout the round.

Mellor

McGregor via Submission

Outlaw Pete wrote: »

Can't believe Nate wouldn't shake his hand after the fight. If anything it should be the other way around.

To quote Diaz, "I'm not surprised motherfuckers". The Diaz brothers have a history of doing similar. They had a run in with Braulio Estima who was in GSP's corner when he fought Nick. Even Kron got involved and threatened Estima, which was surprising considering they are both Gracie blackbelts.

wonderfullife

McGregor via Submission

anyone defending Rogan could do with watching this. And asking themselves if it was any other fight or fighter would he have been more animated and loud at these knockdowns? The answer is yes. He was quiet as a mouse because his boy Nate was being beaten. He only came to life when Nate rallied.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpceKKWP9Ew

cletus

Re getting the knockdowns in this fight and not the first, I think it was mostly down to two things, mobility, and variety of attack.

Diaz not only stands very heavy on the front leg, but he also tends to lean forward on it as well, which can confuse the range, and also allow him greater latitude to roll with punches. By kicking the lead leg, McGregor removed some of this mobility, allowing his shots to land more flush than the first fight

In the first fight, McGregor was not really setting up the left hand, he just kept winging it in, allowing Diaz to time it to some degree. By varying his attacks with kicks to the leg, and strikes to the body, Diaz was less able to time them, and as I said above less mobile re. rolling