GSP: I Believe Conor McGregor Is Better Than Nate Diaz
We are now just over a week out from the highly-anticipated rematch between Nate Diaz and reigning featherweight champion the “Notorious” Conor McGregor which is slated to take place at August 20’s UFC 202 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The two first met back at UFC 196 where Diaz came in on short notice and scored a shocking second round submission victory over the previously red hot McGregor.
The rematch will once again take place at 170-pounds, and former longtime welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre recently spoke on the first fight in an interview with Bloody Elbow. St. Pierre labeled both men as ‘bully’ fighters, but said that McGregor was essentially bullied by the Stockton native. “Rush” also said that the Irishman gassed and was mentally beaten:
“Yeah, the way I see it is McGregor and Nate Diaz are both ‘bully’ fighters, and the worst thing that can happen to a bully is when the tables get turned around and he gets bullied himself. That’s what happened to Conor McGregor, that’s why he lost that fight. Conor McGregor used to bully people and put people away in the first round because he’s such an amazing fighter, and he gets into people’s heads. But what happened was, he couldn’t put Diaz away because Diaz is very resilient.
“If I make an analogy it’s like Conor McGregor was pacing himself for a 400 meters race. He gave everything, but at the end of this 400 meters race, now somebody was telling him, ‘I’m sorry, you’re not done yet, you have another 400 meters to do’. And if you didn’t pace yourself, if you go all out thinking you’re going to arrive at the finish line at 400 meters, now you have another 400 meters – you’re done. There was lot of mental breakdown into that fight, and I think it’s a great example of how a Diaz brother can already beat people mentally, and they’re very good at it. When I fought Nick I was ready for that.”
Despite pointing out where McGregor may have went wrong, St. Pierre actually feels as if the “Notorious” one is superior to Diaz in terms of skill, although he admits that the Stockton native’s mental toughness is second to none:
“I believe skillwise McGregor is better than Diaz,” St-Pierre said. “But I just don’t know if he has the same mental resilience of Nate Diaz. Nate Diaz is very experienced — that was a fight that was won because of his experience.”
Who do you see winning on August 20th in ‘Sin City’?
