John Kavanagh, head trainer to Conor McGregor, says his star pupil did a lot of things right in his fight against Nate Diaz at UFC 196 on March 5, 2016.
Ultimately, though, it was the things he didn’t quite execute that cost him his first loss inside the Octagon. Aside from loading up his left hand trying to end Nate’s night with every punch, “Notorious” ultimately became fatigued.
A critique that was hard for John to admit as he’s seen Conor go for days without skipping a beat. He broke down the Irishman’s loss on a recent edition of The MMA Hour (via MMA Fighting):
“If there was something to critique or take away from that fight, I think Conor almost immediately said it much better than I’m able to say, is that he was inefficient with his job and Nate was efficient. And that’s what I was trying to get across, and that’s what we saw happening. He kind of blew himself a little bit trying to take his head off with every single left hand rather than just landing it. Maybe I could have stole his own phrase and told him to keep it flowing. I think there was a good left cross, and it kind of stumbled Conor back. I kind of think it was really exhaustion at this stage. He looked really, really tired. At that stage it was clear that he was very, very tired. And if there’s one thing you’re never going to say about a Diaz brother is that he gets tired. He just has that incredible ability to just keep going and keep pushing themselves. They [Nate and Nick] are phenomenal athletes, the two of them. So I thought that tiredness and him being pushed back was when I was worried.”
Of course, McGregor’s strength and conditioning coach says the extra weight Conor was lugging around isn’t to blame. So, that could simply mean Nate’s never-back-down attitude that saw him take “Notorious’s” best shots and keep coming ultimately wore him down.
On the bright side, Conor is still the Featherweight champion, which means he still has a shiny gold strap to defend. And defend it he will, as he is expected to return at UFC 200 on July 9, 2016.
As for his opponent, that remains to be seen.