It’s hard not to get goose bumps listening to the corner of Nate Diaz, which comprised Jake Shields, Richard Perez (who is no joke) and Kron Gracie, during his fight against Conor McGregor at UFC 196 this past weekend (Sat., March 5, 2016) at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Diaz, as we all know by now, accepted the Welterweight showdown on just 11 days notice, while McGregor was already in the midst of a full training camp in preparation for a showdown with Lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos that never materialized. Company president Dana White insisted that Diaz was in great shape, but the Stockton scrapper later revealed (or trolled) that he was doing shots of Tequila in Mexico when the call came to step up.
In the end, Diaz was able to weather an early blitz from the Irishman and turn the tide midway through the second round en route to a rear-naked choke submission finish (watch video highlights here). And you can actually hear exactly when his corner began to sense the beginning of the end, starting at about the 3.5-minute mark in the video above, which is apparently when Diaz rocked Mcgregor with a combination — and then a patented Stockton slap — in the center of the Octagon. It’s no surprise that Shields, who McGregor blasted as a “juice head” right to his face at the pre-fight press conference, is all fired up throughout most of this raw audio clip.
Exciting stuff!
For complete results from UFC 196: “McGregor vs. Diaz,” including play-by-play updates, click here and here.