There was a tremendous amount of hype heading into August 20’s bad blood filled rematch between Nate Diaz and Conor McGregor, and it lived up to expectations for sure, as the two men slugged it out for five rounds in the main event of UFC 202. In the end, McGregor evened the score, and walked away with a majority decision victory. Due to the results of the latest installment of the series, the two will almost certainly be headed for a trilogy bout at some point in the future.
Because of the circumstances surrounding the rivalry, and because of the excitement of the rematch, FOX Sports 1 personality Collin Cowhered recently labeled McGregor vs. Diaz as MMA’s Ali vs. Frazier:
“I saw something on Saturday night, in a sport which many of you will never embrace,” Cowherd said in the recent episode of his podcast “The Herd.” “But to me, it is the new standard for ritual drama, McGregor-Diaz. It is our Ali-Frazier.”
“Where during the fight and immediately afterwards, peers, other sports stars were in awe, like Ali-Frazier.”
Since its inception, mixed martial arts has always been compared to boxing, a ‘dying’ sport in the eyes of some, but comparing a battle to that of the iconic Ali vs. Frazier fights is something else. In fact, Cowherd went as far to say that Diaz vs. McGregor II was the ‘final nail in the coffin’ of boxing:
“There are four or five things in my life, big businesses that have died. DVDs, newspapers, landline phones. And Saturday night by 9:30 Pacific, boxing died. That was the final nail in the coffin. Boxing’s dead.”
Do you agree with these comments?
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