LAS VEGAS -- Conor McGregor tried to beat Nate Diaz at his own game at UFC 196.
Nobody beats a Diaz brother at what the Diaz brothers do best.
Diaz took McGregor’s shots. He hit back. He didn’t back down when the Irish featherweight champion hit him with big shots. Instead, Diaz just kept on throwing.
Eventually, Diaz landed a shot that McGregor couldn’t take. From there, it was just a matter of time. Diaz pushed his opponent against the cage, throwing punches all the while. When the fight went to the mat, Diaz took his time before locking in a rear naked choke and tapping McGregor out at 4:12 of the second round.
“I’m proud, motherf----ers,” said Diaz, who took the fight on short notice after lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos withdrew from his title fight with McGregor. “I’m always in shape but if I’m not in the best shape, I’ve got to start slow and pick up.
“I nailed him like I said.”
While the fight may derail the McGregor hype train a little bit, it probably doesn’t actually do much to affect the UFC’s future plans. The Irishman remains the featherweight champion, and was fighting on Saturday in a weight division that is 25 lbs. heavier than where he usually fights.
He’s still got a featherweight title to defend and has a reasonable argument for fighting for the lightweight belt whenever dos Anjos becomes available again. McGregor is still the UFC’s biggest star, the shine’s just come off a little bit.
“I took the chance at 170,” McGregor said. “I’m humble in victory or defeat. He was efficient, I wasn’t efficient. These things happen.”
There’s no question the loss damages his reputation. McGregor has talked about revolutionizing MMA and being head-and-shoulders above the rest of the UFC’s roster. Losing to Diaz in such emphatic fashion pokes a hole in that idea.
Diaz is certainly an elite fighter, but he probably shouldn’t be counted among the super-elite. He was thoroughly beaten by dos Anjos in late-2013, after all.
But in Saturday night’s main event, he showed the grit that has made the Diaz brothers -- Nick Diaz is currently suspended -- such fan favourites. McGregor was swinging for the fences from the opening bell, but Diaz never flinched, even after he was bloodied by a shot.
Instead, he stood and threw, confident that he’d find the punch that would break McGregor.
“There’s a new king in this motherf---er,” Diaz said.
TATE DOES IT
Tate was down. By all appearances she was out.
But then she did the unthinkable.
Tate, a woman who has made herself a star by gutting through beating after beating and emerging victorious, finally laid claim to the UFC’s women’s bantamweight championship on Saturday, choking out Holly Holm with less than two minutes to go in the fifth and final round of the co-main event at UFC 196.
“I’ve waited so long to hear you say that, Joe,” Tate said to Joe Rogan after he called her champion in the octagon. “It’s obviously a very emotional moment for me.”
If Tate was emotional, she had every right to be. After losing twice to former champion Ronda Rousey, it appeared as if she wouldn’t get another chance to get her hands on the belt.
Then, Holm knocked Rousey out at UFC 193 last November, and a window of opportunity suddenly opened. She didn’t waste her chance.
After a first-round that saw both fighters stay standing and Holm remain mostly in control, Tate took the fight to the ground early in the second and very nearly submitted the champion with a rear-naked choke.
Holm would survive and go on to win the third and fourth rounds with more pinpoint striking as Tate struggled to take the fight to the ground.
That meant Tate had to leave it all in the cage and go for a finish in the fifth. Unlikely to get another title shot if she lost, a lifetime of work was literally on the line.
With so much at stake, Tate delivered in spades, taking the fight to the ground once more and locking in a rear-naked choke that put Holm to sleep and the UFC’s women’s bantamweight belt around her waist.
“I knew I had to finish the fight, I had to be perfect in the fifth round,” Tate said. “I thought I had to be like a pitbull on a bone, I couldn’t let go of it.
“How many people wouldn’t tap out? She went out like a champion, I have so much respect for that woman.”
Tate had previously won the Strikeforce women’s belt back in 2011, before the UFC added it’s women’s division to the roster. She lost that belt to Rousey, though, and it’s entirely possible her first title defence will come later this year against the former champ.
As much as Saturday’s win was vindication for the years she’s devoted to fighting, a win over Rousey would likely be the icing on her career’s cake.
For now, though, she’s the top women’s fighter in the world.
MAIN CARD
Nate Diaz def. Conor McGregor by second round submission
Miesha Tate def. Holly Holm by fifth round submission
Gian Villante def. Ilir Latifi by unanimous decision
Corey Anderson def. Tom Lawlor by unanimous decision
Amanda Nunes def. Valentina Shevchenko by unanimous decision
UNDERCARD
Siyar Bahadurzada def. Brandon Thatch by third round submission
Nordine Taleb def. Erick Silva by second round TKO
Vitor Miranda def. Marcelo Guimaraes by second round TKO
Darren Elkins def. Chas Skelly by unanimous decision
Diego Sanchez def. Jim Miller by unanimous decision
Jason Saggo def. Justin Salas by first round TKO
Teruto Ishihara def. Julian Erosa by second round TKO
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