It was a victory for McGregor defeating Nate Diaz in UFC 202. Conor threw much more effective punches which sent Diaz home with a bloody face. The king is really back!
Video of UFC 202 Highlight Conor VS Diaz below:
BJ Penn went ahead and made an estimated earnings of McGregor and Diaz got for UFC 202.
In the estimate below is a quick breakdown of the earnings:
Conor McGregor UFC 202 Earnings
Fight purse: $3 million.
Reebok Sponsorship earning: $250.000.
PPV Share: $11.5 million.
Fight of the night bonus: $50.000.
Nate Diaz UFC 202 Earnings
Fight purse: $2 million.
Reebok Sponsorship earning: $250.000.
PPV Share: $10.5 million.
Fight of the night bonus: $50.000.
BJ Penn even included a show money for his vegas afterparty show, article on UFC 202 Conor vs McGregor Payday.
Fight Info
Fight Scores
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
Sporati on UFC’s video summary and description
Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz talk with Joe Rogan inside the octagon after their rematch at UFC 202.
Video information
This UFC’s video is titled UFC 202: Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz Octagon Interviews and credited to UFC – Ultimate Fighting Championship. Viewing time is 00:03:26, enjoy our fellow UFC fans!
Sporati on UFC’s video summary and description
On Episode 4 of UFC 202 Embedded, welterweight headliner Nate Diaz reluctantly powers through his promotional obligations. Opponent Conor McGregor …
Video information
This UFC’s video is titled UFC 202 Embedded: Vlog Series – Episode 4 and credited to UFC – Ultimate Fighting Championship. Viewing time is 00:06:18, enjoy our fellow UFC fans!
Sporati on UFC’s video summary and description
In arguably the most anticipated rematch in UFC history, Conor McGregor takes on Nate Diaz in the main event of UFC 202 looking to avenge the only UFC loss …
Video information
This UFC’s video is titled UFC 202: Diaz vs McGregor 2 – Extended Preview and credited to UFC – Ultimate Fighting Championship. Viewing time is 00:08:57, enjoy our fellow UFC fans!
Valentina Shevchenko was supposed to be Holly Holms pathway towards regaining her title back but instead Valentina had this fight as her pathway to the same goal. The 17-time World Muay Thai Champion won by unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 49-46) as she dominated the striking game against Holms by hitting 82 significant strikes to Holms 54.
Another bantamweight bout, another upset. @HollyHolm loses decision to @BulletValentina at #UFCFightNightChicago. https://t.co/9zcMGNRiPn
— espnW (@espnW) July 24, 2016
Holly Holms shot to fame when on UFC 193 on November 15, 2015 she stopped UFC sensation and undefeated Ronda Rousey. Ronda was said to be the most dangerous fighter in the world without a weapon and very few expected Holly Holms to win let alone finish Ronda in a dominating display of strikes and kicks.
Holms delivered Rousey her first career defeat and the fight was said to be the Upset of the Year for 2015. Holms who is an 18-time Boxing Champion was still unknown until UFC 193 and her rise to fame was expected to keep on rising with the expectations of a series of wins to follow.
Having defeated the undefeated, there was no one expected to challenge Holms in the succeeding fights and her first title defense was against Miesha Tate on UFC 196 whom Ronda defeated twice already. UFC 196 turned out to be another upset once again as Miesha sunked a rear naked choke on Holms in the final round to get the win. Although it was not a dominating performance and Holms could have won on decision, it was still a bitter lost for the champion.
Prior to the fight with Valentina Holms has this sentiment —
I don’t want to, to have my career based around one fight, I don’t wanna live of the moment of winning the belt, and I don’t wanna sulk into the moment of losing the belt, I went into the gym the next week, and was training, and pretty much cried after every training or during training, but i want to get there and deal with it, I was gonna be honest with myself, I don’t want to look at it and say, oh well, you know, you win some, you lose some, no, i don’t want to lose any,
The fight with Valentina Shevchenko is a road she has to take to get a title shot —
this weekend is the film fight, everything is riding on this
.
As UFC bills Valentina — “Valentina decorated, 17 time world champion muay thai”
Wow! Valentina Shevchenko hands Holly Holm her 2nd consecutive loss, winning by unanimous decision. #UFCChicago pic.twitter.com/L79fVbRvEj
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) July 24, 2016
Holly Holms knows this about Valentina —
Valentina is a very good, very good striker , she is, got a lot of knees, elbows, kick, she is also very good on the clinch, very heavy on tough, every fight i feel i can’t lose, there is so much riding on each fight, that i know that i have a really, realy tough opponent in front of me, she is, she is no joke, she looking at the champ now, nunes fight was Shevchenko, i though a longer fight would have gone to Shevchenko, and this is a 5 round fihgt, this is not an easy fight for me, i definitely feel like there is extra on there, she is the one with the belt, i know on Saturday i don’t want anything else, i promise
It was a very tough fight for Holly Holms but Shevchenko wanted it more —
“My strategy was to do everything I know, to put all my heart, all my power, everything I learned in more than 20 years in martial arts, and I did it”
Valentina is now calling out current title holder Amanda Nunes who is the only fighter to defeat here in the Octagon — “Amanda is a good fighter, she has a good standup and ground game, and of course I want a rematch for the title belt,”
Holly Holms knew her hands was full for this fight —
“I knew she was a counterpuncher, we were ready for that; she’s a tough girl, I knew that,” a gracious Holm, now 10-2, said. “I knew I had my hands full with this fight. I knew it was a really big challenge. What can you do? I knew it was a competitive fight. I could have done more, I’m disappointed in myself, and I take nothing away from her. She was very tough.”
In the first round Holly looked to have the fight in control when she landed a right hand on Valentina that produced a knockdown with three minutes remaining, Valentina came back up and scored a takedown with 90 seconds remaining.
This was a good fight as Holm is known to be aggressive on her punches while Valentina didn’t let up and her counter punching technique continued to equalize whatever Holm threw at her.
Holly Holms’ road to the title belt just became Valentina Shevchenko’s road. It would not be a surprise should Valentina be given a title shot against Amanda Nunes who defeated Miesha Tate. The quest for the Bantamweight title got very interesting and Valentina is now in the mix.
Holly Holms vs Valentina Shevchenko Video Highlight
Holly Holm vs. Valentina Shevchenko full fight video highlights https://t.co/Je6gv6XS0a pic.twitter.com/asMwlsJv98
— MMAFighting.com (@MMAFighting) July 24, 2016
Brock Lesnar is in very hot territory right now as the UFC has announced that heavyweight winner in UFC 200 failed his second doping test in a sample that was taken when he won against Mark Hunt.
John Cena says that Brock is gonna have a hard road ahead of him:
"Brock has a long, hard road ahead of him." – John Cena on Brock Lesnar's two failed drug tests after UFC 200. pic.twitter.com/Hh5iZXTVPi
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) July 20, 2016
Mark Hunt has already reacted in the initial doping news when he retweeted the news that he was asking for half of the winnings of Lesnar estimated to be around 2.5 million dollars.
1. Fucking pay him. 2. I love @markhunt1974 https://t.co/sjfemiAYSy
— It's MMAzing (@ItsMMAzing) July 16, 2016
The future of Brock Lesnar is unclear
Brock Lesnar’S UFC future is unclear following a second positive drug test (by @mikedyce) https://t.co/wKnS9BCzzr pic.twitter.com/D96r7SmIIC
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) July 20, 2016
