Tag: Nate Diaz

Nate Diaz Was Drinking Tequila – Not Training – Before Fight With Conor McGregor

When Nate Diaz accepted a welterweight bout opposite reigning featherweight champion the “Notorious” Conor McGregor on just 10 days notice, many had wondered what kind of shape the Stockton native would be in. UFC President Dana White had assured us that the younger Diaz brother was training for a triathlon, claiming that he was in

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When Nate Diaz accepted a welterweight bout opposite reigning featherweight champion the “Notorious” Conor McGregor on just 10 days notice, many had wondered what kind of shape the Stockton native would be in.

UFC President Dana White had assured us that the younger Diaz brother was training for a triathlon, claiming that he was in “phenomenal” shape ahead of the scrap.

With Diaz’s second round submission of McGregor at UFC 196 now in the past, it doesn’t appear as if White’s statements were true.

In fact, Diaz took to his official Facebook page earlier today, admitting that he was on a Yacht in Cabo taking shots when he received the call and the offer to face the Irishman:

I wasn’t trainjng for a triathalon before this fight I was on a yacht in cabo gettin my chillax on wit my dude @…

Posted by Nate Diaz on Monday, March 7, 2016

Does this make Diaz’s performance any more impressive, and was White simply trying to sell the fight with his statement?

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Five Reasons Jose Aldo Needs To Shut Up & Fight

In the three days since Nate Diaz’ shocking defeat of Conor McGregor in the main event of last Saturday night’s (March 5, 2016) UFC 196 from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, former McGregor rival and longtime featherweight champion Jose Aldo has been especially vocal in both his criticism of ‘The Notorious’

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In the three days since Nate Diaz’ shocking defeat of Conor McGregor in the main event of last Saturday night’s (March 5, 2016) UFC 196 from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, former McGregor rival and longtime featherweight champion Jose Aldo has been especially vocal in both his criticism of ‘The Notorious’ and his desire for a rematch with his hated enemy.

Common sense may dictate that after the Irishman knocked him out in 13 seconds at UFC 194, he might not deserve it, but Aldo certainly has a much more convincing and complete body of work than some of the contenders who have gotten immediate championship rematches lately. Now that McGregor has suffered his first UFC loss and his aura of invincibility went up in smoke, it seems as if Aldo will get his wish at the historic UFC 200 after McGregor emerged from UFC 196 without any medical suspension and foretold of a return to featherweight.

In today’s media-driven MMA world, it’s clear to see that the squeaky wheel gets the grease, so to say (although it’s far from a set formula – just ask Frankie Edgar), but this new and more outspoken version of Aldo is just unlike the usually calm and collected silent killer that went undefeated for 10 years prior to his loss to ‘Notorious.’

And it’s a bit unbecoming of Aldo, as he’s seemingly contradicted himself at a few junctures that have ultimately left his proverbial foot in his mouth. Now, that may sound hypocritical given that McGregor skyrocketed to superstardom doing it, but as one of the most talented mixed martial arts fighters ever, Aldo simply isn’t doing himself any favors by rarely fighting, pulling out of huge fights, and constantly complaining.

Aldo has nothing left to prove, and he is undoubtedly one of the best fighters ever. Yet it’s tough not to wonder if he could have been a much, much bigger star than he is if he would have only focused on what he’s best at, which is defeating world-class opposition inside the cage. Let’s examine the five biggest reasons Aldo should keep quiet and get back to winning.

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Nate Diaz To Justin Bieber: “Shut Your B*tch-Ass Up!”

It looks like UFC contender Nate Diaz isn’t taking too kindly to pop star Justin Bieber’s social media efforts to lift Conor McGregor’s spirits following his first UFC loss at UFC 196 this past Saturday evening.

Following the event, which saw Diaz d…

nate-diaz-bieber

It looks like UFC contender Nate Diaz isn’t taking too kindly to pop star Justin Bieber’s social media efforts to lift Conor McGregor’s spirits following his first UFC loss at UFC 196 this past Saturday evening.

Following the event, which saw Diaz defeat McGregor via second round choke, Bieber started posting messages on social media directed at McGregor. Initially, Bieber posted a photo of McGregor with a caption that simply read, “Still the champ.”

From there, he posted a video where he toasted McGregor saying, “To McGregor. He’s still the champ. That broke my heart,” before adding, “No bandwagon but Conor is a true champion, fights with style and finesse, all the respect to Nate but his style is terrible. Nate has crazy heart respect.”

Diaz had seen enough.

The Stockton native took to social media to post his own photo, one that shows a cartoon Nate Diaz slapping a cartoon Justin Bieber, with some captions of its’ own.

The caption above Bieber’s face in the graphic read, “Nate your style is terr___,” with the one above Diaz reading, “Shut your bitch ass up!!!!”

Biebers a hater ????????

A photo posted by natediaz209 (@natediaz209) on

Chael Sonnen: Conor McGregor Mentally Cracked Against Nate Diaz

Former UFC title contender and now working as an analyst for ESPN, Chael Sonnen is known to say what’s on his mind in any situation. Following Conor Mcgregor’s loss to Nate Diaz at UFC 196, Sonnen has an opinion of what went wrong for the Irish superstar. Sonnen believes that McGregor mentally cracked just like

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Former UFC title contender and now working as an analyst for ESPN, Chael Sonnen is known to say what’s on his mind in any situation. Following Conor Mcgregor’s loss to Nate Diaz at UFC 196, Sonnen has an opinion of what went wrong for the Irish superstar.

Sonnen believes that McGregor mentally cracked just like Mike Tyson did in his fight with Evander Holyfield.

“From a historical standpoint — ??mentally — Conor McGregor fell apart,” Sonnen said on the ESPN post-fight coverage. “He cracked. It was just like watching Mike Tyson fold against Evander Holyfield and all the guys that have come before and after. Listen, when you stand up to a bully, he will fade every time. Conor McGregor is a bully. Now, that’s the mental side.”

Sonnen did praise for McGregor fighting a good fight but blames McGregor’s defeat on the weight difference. As seen in the fight, Diaz was bigger than McGregor. Keep in mind that McGregor usually fights at 145lb while Diaz fights at 155lb.

“Physically, Conor fought a great fight,” he said. “He landed some fantastic combinations. The problem was Nate Diaz was too big. When Conor landed those shots, Nate didn’t go away. Eventually Conor began to fatigue and he began to take punches himself. Forget the rear-naked choke, forget the takedown. This was about fatigue, exhaustion and Conor McGregor, mentally, needed out.”

 

McGregor is expected to return to featherweight and make his first title defense at UFC 200.

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Joe Rogan Reacts To Conor McGregor’s Insane Loss

UFC commentator Joe Rogan and Eddie Bravo discussed Conor McGregor’s loss to Nate Diaz at UFC 196 on the latest episode of the Joe Rogan Experience. ‘This guy has balls, this is why I respect the f*ck out of Conor McGregor, Rogan said. Who else has tried this?’ ‘Watching it live was crazy, everybody jumped

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UFC commentator Joe Rogan and Eddie Bravo discussed Conor McGregor’s loss to Nate Diaz at UFC 196 on the latest episode of the Joe Rogan Experience.

‘This guy has balls, this is why I respect the f*ck out of Conor McGregor, Rogan said. Who else has tried this?’

‘Watching it live was crazy, everybody jumped up and screamed, it was insane. He definitely tagged Nate a few times, but Diaz was on some real black belt sh*t. We had never seen Conor face adversity, and we’d never seen him against a real Jiu Jitsu black belt, and Diaz’s ground game is tight as f*ck.’

Rogan explained that McGregor’s fight went downhill once he got hurt in the second round after dominating the first round.

‘When you’re hurt your game goes out the window. Brendan Schaub told me when Travis Browne hit him, and he knew how to get out of the mount, he didn’t know what he was doing. Conor’s jiu-jitsu is good, but Nate’s is just way better.’

‘His stand up looked great in round one, but Nate Diaz is a big 155er, he’s not a natural 170 guy. I think it’s insane we let Conor McGregor and guys like that dehydrate so bad. What if he fights dos Anjos next time? It’s going to be interesting to see how he handles dos Anjos. I wonder if he’ll do to Conor what he did to Nate and Anthony Pettis.’

Bravo chimed in and compared McGregor to UFC Hall of Famer BJ Penn. Penn, just like McGregor, moved up from a lighter weight class to a heavier weight class.

‘You know what, BJ Penn was the last guy to do it, and you know what? It didn’t work out that well for BJ either. He had success once at 170 pounds; he beat Matt Hughes, but there’s a really good reason for all kinds of fighters torture themselves to get as light as possible. At the elite level 5 or 10 pounds makes a huge difference.’

Bravo pointed out that McGregor was doing great in the first round, and it looked like he was going to win the fight before being hurt and finished.

‘Conor had so much power in his hands, and he really was doing great against Nate, to me, it looked like Conor was going to win this thing. He was lighting Nate up, cutting him up and stuff, but then he got choked in the second round. The fight was so crazy.’

McGregor has received a lot of criticism for allowing Diaz to get mount and locking in the rear-naked choke that won the fight.

‘Hey, Conor’s ground game is not bad, he got hurt, he’s been to my school before, and he is a good grappler, but Nate is a black belt. He was hurt, and it happens. He is good, trust me.’

‘I think he could continue to dominate the 145-pound division, and I think he could do some serious damage at 155 too. I felt that Nate was in Conor’s head towards the end of the hype before the fight, I think he was making him angry.’

You can watch the podcast here:

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UFC Rankings Update: Conor McGregor Drops Five Spots On Pound-For-Pound List

Reigning UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor had a rough night at UFC 196 this past weekend (March 5, 2016), coming up short in his move up to 170-pounds where he met usual lightweight Nate Diaz. After a tremendous amount of trash talk, the “Notorious” one would end up suffering a rear naked choke loss in

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Reigning UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor had a rough night at UFC 196 this past weekend (March 5, 2016), coming up short in his move up to 170-pounds where he met usual lightweight Nate Diaz.

After a tremendous amount of trash talk, the “Notorious” one would end up suffering a rear naked choke loss in the second round to Diaz.

After the defeat, McGregor has dropped five spots in the pound-for-pound rankings, now sitting at No. 8.

Miesha “Cupcake” Tate also upset Holly Holm in the co-main event of the evening, becoming the new women’s bantamweight championship as well as breaking into the pound-for-pound rankings at No. 15.

Check out the fully updated rankings below courtesy of UFC.com:

Pound-For-Pound

  1. Jon Jones
  2. Demetrious Johnson
  3. Luke Rockhold +2
  4. Dominick Cruz
  5. Fabricio Werdum +1
  6. Rafael dos Anjos +1
  7. Robbie Lawler +1
  8. Conor McGregor -5
  9. Daniel Cormier
  10. Jose Aldo
  11. Chris Weidman
  12. Frankie Edgar +2
  13. TJ Dillashaw -1
  14. Joanna Jedrzeczyk +1
  15. Miesha Tate *NR

Flyweight

Champion: Demetrious Johnson

  1. Joseph Benavidez
  2. Henry Cejudo +1
  3. Jon Dodson -1
  4. Jussier Formiga
  5. Ian McCall
  6. Kyoji Horiguchi
  7. John Moraga
  8. Zach Makovsky
  9. Wilson Reis
  10. Dustin Ortiz
  11. Ali Bagautinov
  12. Justin Scoggins
  13. Luis Smolka
  14. Ray Borg
  15. Sergio Pettis

Bantamweight

Champion: Dominick Cruz

  1. TJ Dillashaw
  2. Renan Barao
  3. Urijah Faber
  4. Raphael Assuncao
  5. Aljamain Sterling
  6. Michael McDonald
  7. Thomas Almeida
  8. Bryan Caraway
  9. Takeya Mizugaki
  10. Johnny Eduardo
  11. Jimmie Rivera
  12. John Lineker
  13. Frankie Saenz
  14. Eddie Wineland
  15. Cody Garbrandt

Featherweight

Champion: Conor McGregor

  1. Jose Aldo
  2. Frankie Edgar
  3. Chad Mendes
  4. Max Holloway
  5. Ricardo Lamas
  6. Cub Swanson
  7. Charles Oliveira
  8. Dennis Bermudez
  9. Jeremy Stephens
  10. Hacran Diaz
  11. Darren Elkins
  12. Brian Ortega
  13. Tatsuya Kawajiri
  14. Nik Lentz
  15. Clay Guida

Lightweight

Champion: Rafael dos Anjos

  1. Eddie Alvarez
  2. Khabib Nurmagomedov
  3. Anthony Pettis
  4. Tony Ferguson
  5. Nate Diaz
  6. Michael Johnson
  7. Beneil Dariush
  8. Edson Barboza
  9. Donald Cerrone
  10. Dustin Poirier
  11. Al Iaquinta -1
  12. Bobby Green
  13. Evan Dunham
  14. Michael Chiesa
  15. Rashid Magomedov

Welterweight

Champion: Robbie Lawler

  1. Rory MacDonald
  2. Stephen Thomson
  3. Tyron Woodley
  4. Carlos Condit
  5. Johny Hendricks
  6. Demian Maia
  7. Matt Brown
  8. Dong Hyun Kim
  9. Neil Magny
  10. Tarec Saffiedine
  11. Rick Stroy
  12. Kelvin Gastelum
  13. Hector Lombard
  14. Albert Tumenov +1
  15. Thiago Alves -1

Middleweight

Champion: Luke Rockhold

  1. Chris Weidman
  2. Jacare Souza
  3. Vitor Belfort
  4. Michael Bisping
  5. Lyoto Machida
  6. Anderson Silva
  7. Tim Kennedy
  8. Robert Whittaker
  9. Gegard Mousasi
  10. Uriah Hall
  11. Derek Brunson
  12. Thales Leites
  13. Rafael Natal
  14. Dan Henderson
  15. CB Dolloway

Light Heavyweight

Champion: Daniel Cormier

  1. Jon Jones
  2. Anthony Johnson
  3. Alexander Gustafsson
  4. Glover Teixeira
  5. Ryan Bader
  6. Ovince Saint Preux
  7. Rashad Evans
  8. Mauricio Rua
  9. Jimi Manuwa
  10. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
  11. Patrick Cummins
  12. Corey Anderson
  13. Ilir Latifi *NR
  14. Nikita Krylov +1
  15. Gian Villante -2

Heavyweight

Champion: Fabricio Werdum

  1. Cain Velasquez
  2. Stipe Miocic
  3. Alistair Overeem
  4. Ben Rothwell
  5. Junior Dos Santos
  6. Andrei Arlovski
  7. Travis Browne
  8. Josh Barnett
  9. Mark Hunt
  10. Frank Mir
  11. Roy Nelson
  12. Antonio Silva
  13. Matt Mitirone
  14. Ruslan Magomedov
  15. Alexey Oliynyk -1

Women’s Strawweight

Champion: Joanna Jedrzeczyk

  1. Claudia Gadelha
  2. Carla Esparza
  3. Rose Namajunas
  4. Tecia Torres
  5. Jessica Penne
  6. Valerie Letourneau
  7. Paige VanZant
  8. Michelle Waterson
  9. Maryna Moroz
  10. Karolina Kowalkiewicz
  11. Joanne Calderwood
  12. Randa Markos
  13. Jessica Aguilar
  14. Julianna Lima
  15. Felice Herrig

Women’s Bantamweight

Champion: Miesha Tate

  1. Holly Holm -1
  2. Ronda Rousey -1
  3. Cat Zingano
  4. Amanda Nunes
  5. Julianna Pena
  6. Sara McMann
  7. Jessica Eye
  8. Bethe Correia
  9. Liz Carmouche
  10. Sarah Kaufman +1
  11. Valentina Schevchenko -1
  12. Raquel Pennington
  13. Germaine de Randamie
  14. Lauren Murphy
  15. Marion Reneau

 

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