#2 UFC 196 – vs. Conor Mcregor
This was the battle that diverted Nate Diaz from a mainstream contender who tended to exchange wins and misfortunes into the worldwide superstar that he is today.
For those who have overlooked or do not have the foggiest idea, about the first headliner of UFC 196 which was intended to be Conor McGregor testing Rafael dos Anjos for the UFC Lightweight title, yet when ‘RDA’ broke his foot, UFC found an eager substitution in Diaz – but with the battle occurring at 170lbs.
Buildup To The Fight
The pre-battle video bundle summed the entire thing up, with a voice-over from DMX expressing that “the battle has neither rhyme nor reason, but bodes well on the planet”. Coming in, McGregor was the hot top choice, and all things considered – he was falling off the greatest win of his profession, a 13-second knockout of Jose Aldo, and he had never verged on being beaten in the UFC.
However, Diaz was the greatest man he was going to battle by a long shot, and more to the point, he was getting a substantial reach advantage and a demonstrated, rock solid strong chin that had allowed him to get knocked out only once in his professional career.
Moreover, for once, it gave the idea that McGregor was beaten in the region of mind diversions, as unlike his previous opponents, Diaz just could not have cared less for all the trash talk by any means, and that appeared to get under the Irishman’s skin.
Obviously, McGregor emerged cocked and locked for the wall, apparently sure that regardless of his chin, Diaz would just shrivel under his enormous punching power.
However, in spite of busting the veteran’s right eye and to a great extent transforming his face into a blood bath, McGregor could not discover the executioner blow. And by the end of the first round, the Irishman was sucking wind, while Diaz appeared to be shockingly calm.
At an early stage in the second round, it turned out to be evident that it was not Diaz who was in a bad position, it was McGregor. Not exclusively were his punches unfit to thump Diaz out, yet they were quickly losing their rhythm, and now Diaz was terminating back and insulting him for good measure.
As the crowd sounded stunned, Diaz developed in certainty, staggering ‘The Notorious One’ with more punches, and in the long run, hurt and tired, McGregor shot in for a takedown.
The takedown put Diaz on his back, but just for a minute. As after that, the jiu-jitsu dark belt squandered no time in clearing McGregor, mounting him, and seconds after the fact the Irishman tapped out. Diaz took a moment to absorb one of the most out of control battles in UFC history.
Post Battle
Post-battle, it was more of an exemplary Nate Diaz fare. Declining to acknowledge the outcome as a resentful win, Nate essentially proclaimed that he was not shocked with the result and it was always on the cards. In fact, it was a soundbite bound to be rehashed again and again.
Records Broken
This was the biggest win of the year, as not just had Nate Diaz beaten the greatest hotshot ever of UFC, however when it rose that the show had drawn a record 1.317 million pay-per-view purchases, he likewise demonstrated his own particular worth as a bankable super star.
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