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Conor McGregor is set to fight Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 in a trilogy fight that will settle their rivalry once and for all.
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Conor McGregor's fighting career has seen a downward spiral over the past few years. If he loses the upcoming fight against Poirier, he will certainly be out of title contention.
If 'Notorious' chooses to continue fighting in the octagon after losing to Poirier, his next opponent would have to make sense for the Irishman and the UFC.
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While there could be several interesting matchups to make, what better than another trilogy fight against Nate Diaz? The younger Diaz brother has also seen a spree of losses in the UFC recently but remains a huge draw. Considering how many PPVs their first two fights sold, a trilogy is bound to be a big money fight as fans have been waiting for the duo to face each other again for the past five years.
That said, a trilogy fight against the Stockton native may not be the wisest decision for the Irishman.
Here are 5 reasons why Conor McGregor vs. Nate Diaz 3 may be a bad matchup for the Irishman:
5) Conor McGregor's cardio against Diaz
To the Irishman's credit, Conor McGregor has been training aggressively to improve his cardio and endurance. To make this more evident, Conor McGregor posted stories on his social media while training in Dubai earlier in April. He was seen jogging by the sea while explaining his workout. He said:
"What's up everyone? Welcome to the McGregor Fast triathlon. We run 100kilometres, we cycle 20 kilometres and then we run another 10 kilometres. We run twice because we double run the game and we leave out the swimming because we're already swimming in it."
However, his gas tank is always likely to pale in front of Diaz's, which comes from years of training for and competing in real triathlons.
Diaz had his most recent outing against Leon Edwards at UFC 263. The fight ended in a fifth-round decision loss for Diaz. Nonetheless, he was given credit for making the fight go to the judges' scorecards even after taking many heavy blows from his opponent. Nate Diaz even stole the show with a last-minute flurry that almost knocked Edwards out.
In the post-fight press conference, when asked about Diaz's durability, UFC president Dana White joked:
"He's(Diaz) going to be asking us for a six-round fight the next time"
4) Conor McGregor's preference for early finishes
The majority of Conor McGregor's professional MMA victories have come in the early rounds. McGregor is usually the aggressor in most of his fights, controlling the center and landing powerful counter-punches.
But this approach leaves more room for mistakes against long-haul opponents such as Nate Diaz. When striking with the intent to knock an opponent out, McGregor uses up a lot of energy. Conor McGregor prefers to make very frequent use of powerful strikes. 'Notorious' is bound to gas out earlier than Diaz, a bit later than his previous fights due to his improved cardio and endurance, but he will gas out nonetheless.
Nate Diaz, on the other hand, makes more economical use of volume punches in his fights. He strikes at 50% power throughout the fight and lands the decisive blows or submissions only in the later rounds when his opponents get tired. He is known for having a chin strong enough to take plenty of his opponent's most powerful strikes. A combination of his chin and gas tank is a deadly recipe to pull McGregor into the later rounds. Diaz's first victory over McGregor came similarly, through submission in the second round.
In his predictions for the Irishman's third fight against Poirier, McGregor's arch-nemesis Khabib Nurmagomedov also pointed out this flaw in McGregor's game. Nurmagomedov said:
"I think McGregor takes the first round. If it goes past the first, it's Poirier's."
3) Conor McGregor has a questionable chin
Up until his boxing match with Floyd Mayweather, Conor McGregor's chin was never put to the test in a true sense. His distance management and head movement rarely allowed his opponents to land punches in the face. Add to that the fact that he finished his fights early by knocking his opponents out.
In the Irishman's first professional boxing match, Mayweather dragged the fight into the tenth round when McGregor was exhausted. The referee called the fight in Mayweather's favor after 'Notorious' failed to defend from punches out of exhaustion and being dazed.
After making his return to the octagon at UFC 229 against Khabib Nurmagomedov, his Dagestani opponent wobbled the Irishman and gave him rubber legs. In what was a surprise to many, 'The Eagle' landed the only knockdown of the fight when he dropped Conor McGregor with an overhand right in the second round.
In his second match against Conor McGregor at UFC 257, Dustin Poirier made McGregor's movements sluggish by working on his lead leg with calf kicks. 'The Diamond' handed the Irishman his first knockout loss in professional MMA in the second round.
This proved that it was largely McGregor's distance management and head movement that kept his chin from being tested.
2) Conor McGregor's grappling
Conor McGregor is not exactly known for his skills as a grappler. 'Notorious' has only one submission victory in his professional MMA career.
Other than his submission victory over Dennis Siver, McGregor uses his grappling skills with relative success only as a defense against his grappling-savvy opponents.
Nate Diaz, on the other hand, is one of the best grapplers on the current UFC roster. The Stockton brawler has 11 submission wins in his professional MMA career, including one victory over McGregor at UFC 196.
His fighting background is entirely based on Brazilian Jiu-jitsu. Diaz is a third-degree black belt under the tutelage of Cesar Gracie.
1) Previous fight was a close fight
The previous bout between Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz at UFC 202 was an extremely close fight. McGregor won the fight by a majority decision where two of the judges scored the fight at 48-47 in McGregor's favor, and one judge scored it a 47-47 draw.
Also Read: What was the scorecard of Conor McGregor vs. Nate Diaz at UFC 202?
A lot of people from the MMA community scored this fight in Diaz's favor. The decision of the judges was seen as a mistake by many. The catch, however, is that Diaz wasn't at his offensive best in the fight. Yet, it turned out to be a close fight for Conor McGregor. McGregor's victory was nowhere near as close as Diaz's victory from their previous fight at UFC 196.
Nate Diaz has surely made improvements to his game since that loss. Unfortunately, the Irishman will be pushed to end the fight with a finish instead of letting it go the distance. This only puts him at a disadvantage, as mentioned previously in this article.
