Tag: UFC 196

Conor McGregor Hand-Picked Nate Diaz At UFC 196, But Was Warned

UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor fell at the hurdle set in front of him at UFC 196, albeit at welterweight, as he got submitted in two rounds by Nate Diaz. The apparently glaring holes in the Irishman’s ground defense were exploited to no end by the Stockton bad boy, who made it look easy in

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UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor fell at the hurdle set in front of him at UFC 196, albeit at welterweight, as he got submitted in two rounds by Nate Diaz. The apparently glaring holes in the Irishman’s ground defense were exploited to no end by the Stockton bad boy, who made it look easy in sinking the rear naked choke in and forcing the quick tap from ‘The Notorious.’ For McGregor it seemed, it was backl to the 145-pound division for the next fight. Until the news broke last Friday.

UFC 200 is to feature the rematch between Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz, and once again at welterweight. Allegedly ‘The Notorious’ was eager to fight at 170 pounds again, although it probably favors Diaz, in order to even the score without doubt.

FotorCreated

The originally scheduled bout between McGregor and UFC lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos fell apart when the Brazilian champ broke his foot in training, and according to MMAFighting.com, the featherweight champion hand picked Nate Diaz to replace ‘RDA.’ Also according to the same report, former Ultimate Fighter rival Urijah Faber warned McGregor about Diaz’s grappling, and says that his defense showed he hadn’t worked on his Jiu Jitsu:

“I think it’s a tough fight for him to win, but he’s always got those heavy hands,” Faber told TMZ Sports this week. “Conor has some heavy hands. But the Diaz’s are known for taking a beating and coming back stronger.”

“I think it’s gonna be a good one,” Faber said. “I’m sure Conor wants that one back. I mean, he got whooped. He didn’t even fight the hands, man. I’ve been trying to tell Conor, you gotta work on your jits. Diaz is tough, man. A lot of people don’t know how tough Diaz is.”

“That’s exactly what Dana told me — ‘Hey, Conor wants to fight Diaz,’” Faber said. “That backfired. … I’m definitely a bad matchup for him, though. I have the most submissions in UFC history and he has a history of submitting.”

“Diaz is a more well-rounded fighter,” Faber said. “He’s just as big, if not bigger. Just a bad matchup.”

Conor McGregor 9

Will Conor McGregor even have enough time to improve his ground game enough to compete with a Jiu Jitsu black belt at UFC 200? Perhaps not, but what we do know about Nate Diaz is that he won’t pursue a ground fight, the tough headed ‘Cholo’ (as McGregor described him) is more than happy to trade hands.

Watch this space.

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Holly Holm Responds To Dana White: I Wanted To Fight, Not My Manager

After Holly Holm’s submission loss to Miesha Tate earlier this month (March 5, 2016) at UFC 196, UFC President Dana White criticized Holm’s camp, saying that her manager influenced her to take the risky bout with Tate rather than wait for the lucrative rematch with Ronda Rousey, who Holm shockingly knocked out last November. Finally

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After Holly Holm’s submission loss to Miesha Tate earlier this month (March 5, 2016) at UFC 196, UFC President Dana White criticized Holm’s camp, saying that her manager influenced her to take the risky bout with Tate rather than wait for the lucrative rematch with Ronda Rousey, who Holm shockingly knocked out last November.

Finally responding to White today (March 21, 2016), however, “The Preacher’s Daughter” confirmed that White’s comments are false, noting that she wasn’t fond of waiting for Rousey’s expected, but unconfirmed return:

“All that is false,” Holm said during an interview on The MMA Hour. “I’ve always said I wanted to fight and there still has been no for sure time that Ronda’s going to be back. So they said there’s all this money coming in for that fight, but what if that fight doesn’t even happen? Then what are you waiting for? Nothing.

“You only make money off that fight if it’s actually going to happen, and I don’t know what’s going to happen. Number one, I don’t fight for money. I only fight because I’m passionate about it, and so if we didn’t know if she’d be back right away, we thought well, let’s get another fight going.”

As far as whether or not her team had influenced her to accept a bout with “Cupcake”, Holm said that it essentially came down to her, and she wanted to fight:

“That was me,” Holm told Ariel Helwani. “I definitely said I wanted another fight. I said I wanted to fight sooner rather than later. So, 100 percent, that was me, that was my decision. They’ve never ever made me take a fight without my blessing. Nobody in my camp has ever told me to do something one way or the other, it doesn’t matter. That’s something I said I wanted to do, I wanted to fight.”

According to Holm, her manager, Lenny Fresquez, has always supported her. In the end, the now former champion was quite irritated by the criticism, once again noting that she personally asked for the fight, and she got what she wanted:

“Yeah, [Lenny]’s been nothing but supportive for me and my career,” she said. “He only looks out for my best interests, so it’s frustrating when people kind of put down the things that he’s worked so hard for. I said I wanted this fight. I did. I said I wanted it. That’s the bottom line. 

“For me, I don’t really care what people say about me,” Holm said. “But I do care when people are negative about the people around who I love and support me. So yeah, it’s frustrating, because it was something that I wanted and it’s something I wanted and it’s something that [Fresquez] pushed for. He said, ‘Holly wants to fight.’ That wasn’t him saying that, that was me. He was speaking on my behalf. So I don’t like when people think that he’s pushing me to do things against my will. That was my wish, and what I wanted.”

Do you respect Holm’s willingness to take on the best in the world, or would it have been smarter for her to wait for the potentially massive Rousey rematch?

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What Happens If Nate Diaz Destroys Conor McGregor Again?

There was a whole bunch of questions being asked in the lead up to UFC 196, as UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor prepared to take on Rafael dos Anjos, in an attempt to make UFC history. The lightweight belt was on the line, and the Irish superstar was all set to duke it out with

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There was a whole bunch of questions being asked in the lead up to UFC 196, as UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor prepared to take on Rafael dos Anjos, in an attempt to make UFC history. The lightweight belt was on the line, and the Irish superstar was all set to duke it out with his Brazilian rival, until the injury bug struck again. With ‘RDA’ out, Nate Diaz was drafted in and the welterweight main event was made official on just 11 days notice.

The consensus opinion was that Diaz would be out of shape, and essentially feature as the bitter half of a pay-per-view squash match. How wrong the consensus was, as the Stockton native battered and submitted McGregor in the second round of a thrilling affair. We asked the question before UFC 196, what happens if Nate Diaz beats Conor McGregor? The obvious answer was that ‘The Notorious’ would be sent packing back to featherweight, to finally defend his belt, once again we were very wrong.

diaz vs mcg2

Less than two weeks after their first fight had transpired was the shocking news that the two fierce rivals had agreed to fight again, this time at the milestone UFC 200 card. Again at 170 pounds, the announcement came as both confusing and frustrating to many hardcore fans of mixed martial arts and the UFC. With the featherweight division put on hold yet again, it was clear that the McGregor effect was still a massively controlling factor for the promotion. And yet again, we ask the question, what happens if Nate Diaz destroys Conor McGregor (again)?

Here’s our highly speculative outcomes:

A. McGregor 1

Back to featherweight

So the first and perhaps most obvious outcome of another loss to Nate Diaz would be that Conor McGregor would head back to the 145-pound division to defend his belt. The championship he won from Jose Aldo at UFC 194 is begging to be once again legitimized, but let’s not overlook how rarely it was defended back when ‘Scarface’ was on top. Of course with Aldo now a contender, and also Frankie Edgar screaming for a crack at the whip, it’s no wonder some fans are in disarray at the current booking of Diaz vs. McGregor 2.

To illustrate the point on how often Aldo defended the belt, this:


So things could be a lot worse, and McGregor has not pulled out of a UFC fight yet.

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Jose Aldo: Conor McGregor Is Just A Pu**y That Quits

After suffering a somewhat shocking second round submission loss to Nate Diaz at March 5’s UFC 196, it was thought that featherweight champion Conor McGregor would drop back down to 145-pounds to defend his title at July’s UFC 200. However, reports have surfaced earlier this week that a rematch between Diaz and McGregor is extremely

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After suffering a somewhat shocking second round submission loss to Nate Diaz at March 5’s UFC 196, it was thought that featherweight champion Conor McGregor would drop back down to 145-pounds to defend his title at July’s UFC 200.

However, reports have surfaced earlier this week that a rematch between Diaz and McGregor is extremely close to being booked for this summer.

Former divisional kingpin Jose Aldo thinks otherwise, however, saying that the “Notorious” one will come back to featherweight after his “embarrassment” of a loss.

“Scarface” also sent out a warning to the Irishman:

“You will come back (to the featherweight division) with your tail between your legs after what happened, after that embarrassment,” Aldo told Esporte Espetacular. “You will come back. My hand almost caught you, but when it does for good, you will sleep.”

Despite likely winning the first round against Diaz, McGregor began to eat some big shots in the second before ultimately tapping out to a rear-naked-choke.

According to Aldo, the fight proved that McGregor is simply a quitter when he gets in trouble:

“He’s a lion when he’s attacking, but a kitten when he’s getting beat up,” Aldo said. “Everybody saw in his eyes that he’s just a p—- that quits when he’s getting beat up. That’s what we saw.”

As for what’s next, “Scarface” obviously wants the rematch, noting that the first fight was a fluke. The former champion vowed to run through McGregor, claiming that he can’t see any other outcome:

“I’m waiting for the rematch,” he said. “It’s the right thing to do in my opinion because there was no fight, and everybody wants to see a fight. Everybody wants to see me beating him up, and that’s what I’m going to do. I will run through him, that’s a fact. I don’t see other scenario in my head besides going there and winning, and getting my belt back.”

These are some bold claims from a man who suffered a 13-second knockout, but Aldo seems to be highly confident that he will reclaim his title.

Which rematch would you rather see? Diaz vs. McGregor, or McGregor vs. Aldo?

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Five Reasons Conor McGregor vs. Nate Diaz 2 Is The Worst Idea

It’s the rematch nobody expected, but UFC 200 is looking like the place it’ll go down… Well, who expected to see this bombshell dropped this week? Not even two weeks have passed since Nate Diaz dispatched Conor McGregor in the UFC 196 main event, and already the promotion is working to book the rematch at

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It’s the rematch nobody expected, but UFC 200 is looking like the place it’ll go down…

Well, who expected to see this bombshell dropped this week? Not even two weeks have passed since Nate Diaz dispatched Conor McGregor in the UFC 196 main event, and already the promotion is working to book the rematch at UFC 200. The Stockton bad boy Diaz submitted McGregor after a thrilling slugfest at the March 5 pay-per-view extravaganza, exposing the holes in the Irish boxer’s game both on the feet and on the canvas. McGregor, it seemed, had been temporarily debunked.

With the hype surrounding ‘The Notorious’ remaining steadfast due to the fight being at welterweight, it looked as though he was being sent back to featherweight to defend the title that had been put on hold by his quest for two belts. After Rafael dos Anjos was injured and removed from the UFC 196 card, the reason the fight with Diaz was at welterweight was because Nate refused to cut down to lightweight on just 11 days notice.

Credit to MMA Fight Night Live on Facebook for the awesome UFC 200 McGregor vs Diaz 2 poster
Credit to MMA Fight Night Live on Facebook for the awesome UFC 200 McGregor vs Diaz 2 poster

So a highly unnecessary yet entertaining bout was born at the floating weight of 170 pounds, and fair play to McGregor for taking the loss on the chin in the post fight stages. But then the news broke just last night that the UFC was looking to book the rematch at their next landmark PPV show, and at welterweight too. The news was met with confusion, anticipation, and outrage from various corners of the MMA community, as many believed and hoped that the featherweight title would once again become active.

We can think of five reasons that the UFC shoud have avoided Conor McGregor vs. Nate Diaz 2.

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Miesha Tate Won’t Wait Around For Ronda Rousey To Return

Miesha Tate knows that as the new UFC women’s bantamweight champion, a third match-up with her longtime rival and former champion Ronda Rousey is most likely an inevitability. However, after submitting Holly Holm in the co-main event of March 5’s UFC 196, Tate is looking to stay active, and she’s not exactly sure Rousey has

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Miesha Tate knows that as the new UFC women’s bantamweight champion, a third match-up with her longtime rival and former champion Ronda Rousey is most likely an inevitability.

However, after submitting Holly Holm in the co-main event of March 5’s UFC 196, Tate is looking to stay active, and she’s not exactly sure Rousey has the same plan based on her devastating knockout loss to Holm last November.

Speaking during a media scrum in Brisbane, Australia, for this weekend’s UFC Fight Night 85, Tate revealed that she would rather fight at least one more time before Rousey conceivably returns in October or November, and it may even be as soon as July’s blockbuster UFC 200 (quotes via FOX Sports):

“That is a long time to wait. I have had eight months off before. Ideally I want to fight before then. I have been tossing around the idea if possible of fighting at UFC 200. I don’t know what the UFC has in mind for that. It may not be realistic.”

As for just whom ‘Cupcake’ might face next, she said she’s already been targeted by the entire top half of the division, and that understandably includes a request for a rematch from Holm. But with top-ranked contenders like Amanda Nunes and a returning Cat Zingano, who toppled Tate via TKO in their first respective UFC bout in April 2013, the next women’s 135-pound title fight is still very much unknown.

No matter whom it is, however, Tate said she is ready and will stay ready:

“I have been called out by everyone who is in the top six. The champion should take on whoever they say is next and whoever has earned that position. I don’t really care. They are all gunning for me and are all dangerous. My job as a champion is to stay active. I don’t want to be the one to say who fights who. I don’t want to be fixated on one person.”

Tate seems to be carrying the mindset of a true champion; one that knows her division is suddenly wide-open after being dominated for so long by a former champion who may or may not be motivated to even participate in one more UFC fight.

And even though she may not be considered the true champ by some until she finally defeats Rousey, the fact is right now it’s Tate who is motivated to take on any and all top-ranked female bantamweights in the world.

You can watch her full interview courtesy of Submission Radio right here:

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