Connor fought a tactical fight. Worked the legs. Great takedown defense. Diaz takes punishment like he enjoys it. If Connor had a better ground game, he could have tried to take advantage of a couple of those knockdowns. Still, Connor didn't gas out and stayed patient. Both put on a hell of a show!
A very very close fight. Thought Diaz got popped early, but a grueling 5 round match is not what Connor needed. Shouldve been a draw just because both guys had their moments. Thought...Connor ran away more than he needed too. 5 rounds just proves how hard boxing is...:grin:
He's taken worse by better fighters and he didn't make 2 million dollars for it. Josh Thomson actually finished him. Give McGregor a month worth of rounds and he'd never finish Diaz.
now that was a great fight! looked like both were done at one point and then came back. and none of that laying on top of each other the whole fight. i hope this fight didn't have too much striking for the purist to enjoy lol
Very true, so do rules. If there was no round limit, or if there were like 10 rounds, McGregor loses this one. If it's 3 rounds, McGregor wins by unanimous decision. Honestly he just needs to stay fighting little guys that can't take his punches. He's not built to fight at his natural weight.
Why? This was probably his best, most entertaining fight of his career, and will only garner him more fans from it. I say it was a success all around.
Agree if its just a regular undercard/preliminary fight: 3 5-minute rounds in MMA = 5 3-minute rounds in boxing. 15 minutes for both. But the main event: 25 minutes in UFC/MMA = about 8 rounds in Boxing. Plus, there's a extra 2-minute difference between a 5-minute MMA round and a 3-minute Boxing round.
If McGregor was fighting a better fighter at 170, like one that could take him down or that could have dealt with the leg strikes, he'd have lost. On top of that, he looked bad despite winning. He resorted to running away a lot of times. He should never fight at this weight ever again.
McGregor cuts more than normal people. he's zombie tier at weigh in. His natural fighting weight is definitely 155, he's fought there before. I think he should just vacate 145, he hates cutting to fight there and he's beaten everyone.
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what you just said is kind of mind blowing imo. If it's a 10 round fight mcgregor loses? I mean your prob right but it's not 10 rounds never had been 10 rounds it just makes no sense to say this at all. Secondly in mma and boxing all but a select few cut 15-20lbs under there normal weight. That's like saying well if Diaz fights at his normal weight he'd be fighting at 185 maybe even 205 and he would get killed and in his few fights before at 170 he's been garbage so he's not really good at his natural weight either. Mcgregor def cuts a lot to make 145 but he's not a natural 170lb fighter either, seeing as he still can't quite get up to 170 even with 6 months prep time. His real weight class is 155 and even before he came to ufc that's the weight he liked and felt most comfortable at. But at 145 he's just too big and hits to hard for those guys. I honestly don't think any of them Aldo including can deal with his power and size at that weight. It's a huge advantage much like in boxing how Canelo weights in at 155 and balloons back up to 180 to fight guys he's 25-30lbs heavier than. Conor won round 1 easy Round two was closer but edge goes to Conor because of the knockdowns Round 3 was Diaz but what really turned the round was the last 50 seconds when he loaded up on the cage. Round 4 was Conor's best round besides the 1st he was really impressive I just rewatched it he won that round easy. Round 5 was honestly pretty even but I'll give it to Diaz for the last take down and him pressing the issues but he still took he cleaner bigger shots. 3-2 for Conor is fair but if you rewatch it I don't see how anyone can score it a draw or worse in Diaz favor. The strikes were even 164-162 bit one guy took a lot more punishment to the head and leg. It was a clear tough victory and honestly makes Conor's star even brighter. These are the fights that propel you to superstar status. He was already a star now he's the man. If the ppv hits close to 2m buys or more he will be demanding 20+ plus ppv for every fight moving forward and he's worth it. My guess is with the new management, he's fighting Floyd Mayweather next In a huge joint ppv with showtime and ufc. That will easily become at worst the second highest ppv to Floyd/pac. It just makes to much money for everyone involved for it not to happen Dana white is an idiot he doesn't have the power anymore and he knows it. If Conor and the new owners want it which I'm sure they do it will happen. Big money that's a 500 million dollar fight.
Once upon a time there weren't rounds at all, you just fought till someone won. So sure, there's never been 10 rounds, but at one point the guy with bad cardio who couldn't finish a fight would end up losing. That's sort of what I'm saying here, Connor did really well early in the fight but he doesn't possess knockout power when fighting against guys at 170 and his cardio is weak. As the rounds went on he got more and more drained and eventually Diaz would have gotten him to the ground early in a round and finished him. McGregor has some serious flaws in his game, but he did a good job with the takedown defense and he was smart to go to the leg kicks to rob Diaz of his power early. That's probably the only things that saved him in this one. If the fight continued on past 5 rounds, I don't think McGregor wins another round, he was just that gassed and it would only get worse once he stopped being able to prevent the takedown. If I'm McGregor, I never fight at 170 again, he needs to stick to fighting smaller opponents that he has a chance of finishing.
Unbiased observer here, could care less if Connor or Diaz won. Have to say that McGregor definitely won. He landed more quality heavy shots on Diaz. He also led the majority of the fight, Diaz always seemed to be on the back foot trying to play catch up. Diaz always took it to Mcgreg when in close contact (3 minutes in total), while McGreg seemed to have the upper hand in the kicking and boxing element. Those kicks on Diaz seemed to really distract the man. Good strategy by McGreg.
Maybe I'm over doing it here but I don't think he should fight Diaz again. He exposed so many of his flaws these two fights that he's lost all of his mystique for me. He seems more like a one trick pony in that he's good standing and trading for about 2 rounds (if that) and he has good take down defense but if you can take his punches and get him on the ground I imagine it's not going to be pretty. Still a great fighter, but he's no Silva, Jones, GSP, Penn, Hughes etc. like some people want him to be. He's like a Rampage Jackson, always entertaining to watch but a limited skillset but always going to sell fights.
