Conor McGregor On Nate Diaz: He’s A Hell Of A Competitor

UFC 202 has come to a conclusion and what a card it was.

The entire main card contained finishes in the first or second rounds, with the exception of the explosive main event between rivals Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz, making a serious case for card of the year as it currently stands.

Interestingly enough the two trash-talking enthusiasts shared a great deal of respect for one another, as they embraced following the final horn of the 25-minute bloodbath just moments before McGregor’s hand was raised for the majority decision win.

During his post-fight interview, McGregor claimed the victory was definitely not an easy one and gave props to his worthy adversary:

“It was not easy, it was a war. I’m happy it went that way, I got to show my heart in there. I took it to him and I stayed in and got the win, so I’m very happy with it.

He’s a class competitor. It’s intense in the build up and everything is real. If we saw each other in the build up-if my team saw they’re team-something was going down and thats just the way it is. But respect is earned through battle, for me and for him, so this battle was won.

We’ll regroup, we’ll go our separate ways and see what happens and we’ll gather up for the other battle. And then it will be right back where we started.”

Following the contest the 145-pound champion called out Diaz to a trilogy fight at 155-pounds, and explains his reasoning for the proposed weight cut is because he misses his six-pack:

“I want to get my abs back. I don’t have abs at this weight. I’ve been trying to get abs and I’ll be like, ‘fuck I can’t get abs even though I’m eating good.’

Sometimes I feel I’m a bit of a fat belly. I’m going to go back down in weight. I’m the 145-pound champion. The 155-pound is their, when I fight Nate again it will be 155 pounds. It will be on my terms this time.

I came up, I didn’t make any excuses or any stipulations to try and get this win back. I had it exactly the way it was previous, I said 170-he got even bigger from the first fight, he was way bigger than the last time. So he-over that five months or whatever amount of time since the last fight-he grew.

So I knew what I was up against, I was thinking maybe this had been a mistake but I said f*** it. I had trained hard, be smart, learn from your mistakes and go win. But I believe if we do it again it will be 155, maybe for the belt who knows what’s next?”

The majority decision result was surely not an expected one after it was all said and done, as one judge scored the contest at a dead tie between the two men at 47-47.

When asked what was going through his mind after hearing one of the judges’ scorecards was a draw, the Irish champ had this to say:

“I dropped him — three times I think I dropped him yea? I could have went in there and pressed but I was patient. I learned that lesson.

He does this thing where, he uses his range where he pulls, and then as the fight progresses he he steps in instead of — so when I anticipate that he’s gonna be far, he steps in close. That was one thing that flustered me in the first contest. Because I was anticipating him to be far, and then he was here. So I anticipated that a bit better, and I was lighter with my shots and slapping him a bit.

I just had to be patient, not fall into my shots, not rush. I anticipated him to be there for the full five rounds, and he was. The game-plan worked like my coach John Kavanagh‘s book, which is in stores now ‘Win Or Learn”. We learned this time and thats it, I’m very grateful for it and I’m very happy with how it went.”

The 145-pound champ incorporated something into the UFC 202 game-plan that we don’t tend to see much out of McGregor in leg kicks, and the result was a leg torn to ‘bits’:

“I’ll tell you what, f*** leg kicks. Me leg is in bits after them. I don’t really throw leg kicks and when I throw them, I maybe threw in my whole career–usually inside if I’m fighting orthodox people and people in the featherweight division, about 5’8 5’7 even, an orthodox it’s a little bit more risky.

This time you have to hit the legs on him, so we practiced leg kicks. And I’ll tell you what he’s got pretty good at checking them. He’s not what he was. He’s able to handle the leg kicks now, he’s a lot more seasoned with them. But I just kept kicking, I’m sure it set up some of the shots that I landed, it took the mind. I didn’t just head-hunt, I hit the leg, I hit the body.

I didn’t overload on my shots and I had some clean work in there tonight. I look forward to watching it back. When he stepped in a few times I threw some elbows as well. I’ll tell you what man, his face was opened up and he’s still just coming.

He’s still just coming at me. You’ve got to respect that, you’ve got to respect Nate and the style of fighting that he brings. How can you not?”

The loss to Diaz just five months ago was not the first he has suffered in his career, however, after all the doubt that stemmed from the initial loss to Diaz at UFC 196 McGregor became enamored with an immediate rematch to prove his doubters wrong:

“Just the way it all went down. I’m sitting back and I’m looking at everyone–I don’t care what anyone says, I bring this game to another level. They can deny it all they want but I did. I mean look at Nate’s purse tonight, look at Nate’s purse after the first fight.

Everyone’s game has gone up money wise, and I helped do that. So after that fight when I lost, and I’m looking at all these people and they’re all celebrating my demise saying I’m done and this, it certainly lit a fire under my belly.

Every single person doubted me, every single fighter doubted me. Doubt me now.”

Throughout all of the F-bombs and bottle wars leading up to the event, at the end of the day McGregor believes Diaz is one ‘hell of a competitor’:

“I felt I won the fight. I felt 3-2 was a fair result. That first round in my opinion was a 10-8, I dropped him, and it was a handy round that first one. I would have given that first round a 10-8, but whatever they see they see. I won that fight, I’m happy with it. My respect to the opponent, he’s a hell of a competitor.”

You can watch McGregor’s full post-fight media scrum here: