UFC 202 – How Did Conor McGregor Won vs Nate Diaz?

How did Conor McGregor win against Nate Diaz? This argument started when Nate Diaz beat Conor McGregor on a day’s notice and everyone has counted Conor McGregor out especially since Nate Diaz now has the time to prepare against him.

The argument is completely flawed as same thing can be said of Conor McGregor and while he had the time to prepare excessively, all of his preparations were against Rafael dos Anjos who was the same height, almost same reach as Conor. As far as strategy is concerned both Nate and Conor only had a day’s preparation and with Nate Diaz having more experience was able to bring the fight to his strength on the ground as Nate defeats Conor on UFC 196 on the 2nd round via a rear-naked choke submission.

Now with time and preparation, Conor McGregor is at the height of his athletic ability, hunger to regain the title and his excessive work ethic and preparation allowed him to prepare against the strengths of Nate. Conor went to train Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu as Nate is a black belt in the art. His training was not meant to go into offensive against Nate but was more of being able to defend when the fight went to the ground. McGregor did everything to stay on their feet but when on one just one occasion in the last minute of the last round Nate was able to get to the ground and Conor locked the guard and stayed in defense until time expired. The strategy worked well for him since on the ground it is Nate’s time.

On the feet, Conor is known for his strikes via kicks, and quick punches, and fluid movements around the cage. He also floated and evaded Nate Diaz like Mayweather and Ali does, brilliant strategy. For the bashers who say he run throughout the match, the picture below of Nate shows otherwise:

Just gunna leave this here for all the fools saying #ConorMcGregor was running… #NateDiaz #UFC202 pic.twitter.com/VUy0J1KMHm

— Big Dog MMA (@Bigdogmmadaily) August 21, 2016

Conor’s corner

Conor McGregor coaching staff stressed to Conor to get out when Nate is pressing him to the cage, that is the only time Nate is able to strike and he is getting the upper hand in that situation.

Nate’s corner

Nate Diaz is pushing him to go for a takedown against Conor and push the advantage of pushing Conor against the cage.

Conor McGregor’s speech after winning
In classic Conor McGregor style — “Surprise, surprise motherfucker, the King is back”.
https://twitter.com/mikesanz19/status/767481712695767041

Nate Diaz’s speech after losing
He seems to think he has won with his comment — “They are not gonna allow me to win” – referring to the judges decision of favoring Conor McGregor.

This is a very close fight and Conor McGregor clearly won the first two rounds when he had more strikes and Nate went down on both rounds. The 3rd and 4th rounds were close but Nate had the upper hand especially in the closing minutes when he pressed Conor against the cage and was able to strike repeatedly. Round 5 was still close but Conor McGregor had more strikes, was not pressed way less against the cage compared to round 3.

Conor McGregor came out more prepared and wanted this fight more.

In a tweet below, I agree on the motivation of Conor on getting back his name on the winning column:

Conor McGregor found the motivation he needed to get even with Nate Diaz. https://t.co/Q4egywqGdM

— USA TODAY Sports (@usatodaysports) August 22, 2016

In the end, both fighters respected each other for a fight well fought to the end:

Respect. pic.twitter.com/aRrNcoNa6S

— McGregor Army (@McGregorArmy) August 21, 2016

Below is the video for the full highlights of UFC 202 – Conor McGregor vs Nate Diaz