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Before Conor McGregor takes on Nate Diaz at UFC 196, watch McGregor’s 1st round stoppage win over Diego Brandao in an unforgettable main event at UFC Fight Night in Dublin, Ireland.

Conor McGregor’s first UFC main event was supposed to be against Cole Miller at UFC Fight Night in Dublin, Ireland on July 19th, 2014. Miller pulled out with an injury, so in stepped Brazil’s Diego Brandao to face “The Notorious” one in front of a raucous and incredibly boisterous crowd.

The Fight Pass-streamed main event saw McGregor stop Brandao at 4:05 of round 1 after hurting Brandao with a hard left hand and a thudding right to the body, then one more left to send Diego to the canvas. McGregor continued the onslaught of punches until the fight stopped, sending the crowd into mass hysteria. Conor would knockout Dustin Poirier just a few months later, then pick off Dennis Siver, Chad Mendes, and Jose Aldo in a phenomenal 2015.

You can watch the full fight video at the top of the page.

Here’s Dallas Winston’s play-by-play of the fight:

McGregor wheels out a spinning kick and both fighters deploy salvos of leather with both hands. Brandao clinches up and puts McGregor on the fence but McGregor circles to switch positions. Knee to the ribs for Brandao but he’s taken down with a trip. McGregor postures up and Brandao boots him off with both feet, then dodges a foot lock when he jumps back into Brandao’s guard. Brandao angles for an armbar and McGregor stacks him to break the grip.

Half butterfly for Brandao with good posture control. McGregor gives him enough room to push off and escape but McGregor tags Brandao with a shot on his way back up. Roundhouse kick for McGregor but he narrowly avoids a Brandao haymaker. McGregor thuds a left hand right through Brandao’s defense and the sheer power of impact breaks Brandao’s guard open, allowing McGregor to slice a long left through the opening that meets Brandao’s jaw. Brandao wilts to the canvas in slow-motion where McGregor unloads left hands until the ref pulls him off.

And here’s the decidedly indifferent response in the comments section to McGregor’s win:

McGregor takes on Nate Diaz at 170 lbs in the UFC 196 main event on March 5th at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

Miesha Tate is just a few days away from her women’s bantamweight title fight against current champion Holly Holm, which takes place in the UFC 196 pay-per-view (PPV) co-main event on Sat., March 5, 2016 inside MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

But that doesn’t mean she’s opposed to a rematch between Holm and Ronda Rousey later this year. Unfortunately for them, it won’t be for the division strap, because “Cupcake” will be leaving “Sin City” with the title in tow.

Tate talks to ESPN:

“I wanna see the rematch too, at some point, I think everybody does. As a fan of the sport myself, I would love to see that. When I go in there and win the belt on Saturday, that’s probably gonna throw a wrench in the mix, so they can either put the trilogy together between Ronda and myself, with me as the champion, or they can make a non-title bout between Holly and Ronda, whatever they prefer, but I just wanna go in there on March 5 and win the belt.”

Also known as the “crazy fucking love triangle.”

Holm trashed Rousey at UFC 193 last November to claim the crown, but looked rather average in her two UFC fights that preceded it. I’m sure Tate is hoping that earlier version of “The Preacher’s Daughter” shows up this weekend. If not, this could get ugly.

For more on their upcoming title fight click here.

Free-agent heavyweight Matt Mitrione says he is planning on appealing his TKO loss to Travis Browne because of several referee errors.

Current free-agent heavyweight Matt Mitrione is appealing his January loss to top contender Travis Browne at UFC Fight Night 81 with the Massachusetts State Athletic Commission (MSAC) for numerous officiating errors in his latest contest.

Mitrione was accidentally poked in the eye on several occasions during his bout with Hapa. He believes Gary Forman made crucial mistakes as the referee by not penalizing Browne in some way — point deduction, disqualification, etc.

“My case is extremely strong, extremely valid,” Mitrione told MMAFighting.com. “And I know a lot of times people have cases when they appeal something and it’s a very valid position and nothing ever happens, it doesn’t get overturned. Well, that’s bullsh*t. A lot of that problem, I think, is because the commission takes a lot of pride in who they hire and they don’t feel like they can be accountable for those mistakes.

“People f-ck up. It happens. I don’t think the commission should take it on the chin like they apparently do and it shouldn’t be a shot at their ego.”

Ultimately because of the blatant eye-pokes and shots that may not have landed had he been able to see properly, Meat head suffered a broken orbital bone and a very visible (and scary) hematoma over his right eye.

According to Mitrione, during the second round of the fight with Browne, which Mitrione lost by third-round TKO due to ground-and-pound strikes, Forman warned him to avoid jumping into Browne’s fingers.

“He acknowledges the fact that he missed the foul, because he knew it was a finger that caused that poke, and warns Travis, but doesn’t stop the fight,” Mitrione said. … “The fact that it’s gonna stick on my record as a loss with no asterisk on it because I had the balls to carry forward versus just stopping — that’s madness.”

With the stoppage loss to Browne, Mitrione (9-5) has now lost two in-a-row, also including a surprising submission loss to Big Ben Rothwell. The two losses snapped a hot streak he was riding, which included impressive victories over Gabriel Gonzaga and Derrick Lewis.

The Browne matchup was the last bout on Mitrione’s current contract, and now Mitrione is officially a free-agent, looking for a new contract, whether that means with the UFC or another rival organization such as Bellator MMA. Thus far, the loss to Browne has affected Mitrione’s negotiating power.

“Travis should not get, in my opinion, the victory on that fight,” Mitrione said. “Travis didn’t win that fight. There were a substantial amount of errors in that fight and it shouldn’t have ever gotten to that point.”

Media-Mitrione Grievance Andrew 2 by Luke Thomas

(H/T MMA Fighting)