- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
It’s easy to identify Conor McGregor with his gregarious personality, Irish pride and devastating left hand – but in Stockton California’s Nate Diaz he has finally met his equal.
As much as the respective fighters adopt a ‘kill or be killed’ mentality in the Octagon, their upbringings give us a glimpse as to why these two men fight with flair.
Diaz with his elder brother and fellow mixed martial arts fighter Nick Diaz dealt with the hardships of a tough childhood in Stockton to forge a very successful career in the fight business.
The Diaz brothers have made the ‘Stockton Slap’ viral with their bold use of it in the Octagon, on display when Diaz beat McGregor just over three months ago.
McGregor also started learning the craft of fighting as a way to defend himself if a brawl escalated within his beloved hometown of Dublin, Ireland.
Diaz dethroned McGregor at UFC 196 by submission in Round 2 of their performance of the night welterweight bout. The fight lived up to every ounce of what it was promoted to be.
Hailing from the renowned Cesar Gracie Jiu-Jitsu academy, Diaz proved his black belt material Jiu-Jitsu skills setting up the deciding rear-naked choke after he wobbled McGregor with hard strikes.
McGregor is seeking to avenge his loss against Diaz at UFC 202 as the UFC obliged to his obsession with wanting a rematch.
McGregor appeared to relish the media attention heading into the first fight (although the UFC had to cancel a set rematch bout at UFC 200 due to McGregor’s complaints of excessive media commitments) and fought largely throughout in atypical stand-up fashion.
Diaz was mistaken to be shy of the occasion – this was the only time he confronted a person who had the verbal prowess to convincingly out trash talk him in the UFC. In the lead-up to the UFC 196 main event McGregor said on UFC’s Fox Sports show hosted by Jay and Dan: “I dug the grave a little wider, a little longer for Nate’s skinny fat, long body.”
The main event was a last minute procrastination of negotiations. McGregor was originally scheduled to confront lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos only to be abruptly shut down when dos Anjos suffered a broken foot. UFC 202 meanwhile presents a whole range of different variables which makes it an even more compelling match-up than the first.
After parent company Zuffa bought the mixed martial arts product over 20 years ago, mixed martial arts has become such a tantalising show and tactical centrepiece with fighters needing to understand several martial art forms and Diaz exposed McGregor’s Jiu-Jitsu game.
Both fighters will be able to prepare and train adequately for their fight well in advance. One would think this gives the advantage to Diaz who realistically would have only had around a week’s training to prepare for a last minute call up.
The adage also holds ‘you learn more from your losses than you do your wins’. McGregor after weighing in officially for the first time at 170 pounds, will gain valuable experience on how to fight a taller man with a heavier body type than what he is accustomed to in the featherweight division.
McGregor has reportedly been training with highly regarded Jiu-Jitsu black belt and grappler Dillon Danis for the first time.
Although the rematch will draw in a lot of money and viewership for the UFC company, McGregor has abandoned the need to defend his featherweight title for the sake of a personal albeit important quest.
Credentialled featherweight contenders such as Frankie Edgar and José Aldo will fight for a contender belt at UFC 200 which will have no real merit until McGregor decides to leave or grant the featherweight division a defence of his championship.
This welterweight rematch between McGregor and Diaz will be a major bookmark for their careers. If Diaz wins, he will have the undisputed edge over McGregor in their historic rivalry and could launch himself into a title fight against either Rafael dos Anjos (who Diaz has lost against) in the lightweight division or Robbie Lawler in the welterweight division.
Whereas if McGregor succeeds he will redeem himself in part from the first bout and potentially escape another gruelling weight cut to 145 pounds in the future by charging for another title shot at a heavier weight class.
The actual rematch and the potential implications of it will be compelling enough but their captivating press conferences will be fair curtain raisers.
Let’s get ready to rumble! Pick a fighter and place your bets with PlayUp for great odds. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.