Conor McGregor threw the kitchen sink and got a wrought-iron bath-tub in return.
Ever since he joined the UFC, ‘The Notorious’ has been putting people stiff with his left-hand cross. He connected with some lusty blows on Nate Diaz’ temple but still the fight raged on.
Near the end of the second round, some heavy blows from Diaz forced McGregor to abandon Plan A and attempt a take-down. Diaz reversed the attempt and soon had McGregor tapping out.
In the post-fight press briefing, McGregor expanded on where the fight was won and lost:
“I took a shot; I went at it.
“I feel I was simply inefficient with my energy. Usually I fight a man in the division I am champion in they crumble under those shots but Nate didn’t. The weight allowed him to take those shots well… With the bigger man, you must be more efficient with your striking. You don’t put everything into the shots.”
McGregor added, “Hates off to Nate. He stayed in there; a lot of people have crumbled under the shots.
“His range was a factor. My left-hands were falling short sometimes.
“My wheel-kicks… I feel my wheel-kicks weren’t… I threw them and missed or, once or twice, maybe hit a glove. I think they did more to my energy than they did to his. It was a battle of energy in there and he got the better of that.”
However, the main reason McGregor feels he lost was that Diaz, a 30-fight veteran, kept cool under fire. He commented:
“I enjoyed the fact that someone could take the shots and keep coming.
“He kept his composure. He went into auto-pilot mode with the shots. His face was bust up.
“I went into panic mode. There was just a shift of energy and he capitlised on it.”
McGregor feels he will learn from the defeat and, one day, revisit the welterweight division.
“It takes more than one, more than two, more than three, to put the heavier man away.”
