The series is tied at one apiece, but the morning after the night before, Nate Diaz still believed he beat Conor McGregor the second time around.
In his post-fight presser, the Notorious exclaimed that “respect is earned through battle”. After giving him two of the toughest fights of his career at UFC 196 and UFC 202 respectively, there is little doubt that McGregor has respect for Diaz.
“When Nate Diaz entered Conor McGregor's life, everything changed.” #UFC202 https://t.co/ELlHztB2IZ
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) August 22, 2016
McGregor won the sequel via majority decision with two judges scoring the fight in his favour, while the other gave Nate a 10-8 for his dominant display in the third and called it a draw.
Diaz was adamant after the final buzzer that he had done enough to win and after watching the fight, he told Submission Radio that his opinion has not changed.
“Yeah, I watched the fight. I thought I won it for sure. Last night I watched it.”
“I think (I was more dominant than McGregor) after the first round all the way through.”
Following back-to-back bouts with zero title implications or bearing on the UFC rankings, there is some uncertainty over what the immediate future holds for the Stockton native. However, after banking the biggest payday of his career at UFC 202, Diaz admitted he will only sign on the dotted line“if it’s a big fight, big deal and a big contract.”
But for now, he’s just going to “go home or chill here“. You earned the time off, Nate. That was a hell of a fight.
