UFC 196 was a monumental success, as well as a monumental failure; it depends on which side of the fence you’re on. For the sport in general, it will arguably go down as the greatest night. While Miesha Tate’s dreams came true, Holly Holm’s nightmares turned into a reality.
It was undoubtedly an interesting night, with even the undercard (or prelims, if you want to put it nicely) delivering quite a few shockers.
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Talking about the main and co-main events, going into the event, many people said it was a bad match up stylistically for both Holly Holm as well as Conor McGregor. Miesha is a very good sprawler, has excellent wrestling skills, and is probably the most well-rounded fighter in MMA.
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While the “big occasion” got to her at UFC 168 against Ronda Rousey, most of the pundits believed she could prove to be more than a handful for Holly Holm.The same was said about Nate Diaz.
One of the biggest question marks about Nate was about his lack of a training camp. Nate took the fight on just 10 days’ notice, while the same can be said about Conor McGregor. However, Conor was at a distinct disadvantage, and not a lot of people thought of that just because of how easily Conor had dispatched his previous opponents in the UFC.
Conor’s legacy – A fighter’s fighter
First things first, Conor McGregor is head and shoulders above the other fighters simply because of his mindset, and his willingness to risk it all while still being at the top. Make no mistake, Conor will go down as one of the greatest Mixed Martial Artists.
While other fighters (cue Werdum) outright refused to fight against a different opponent on short notice, Conor didn’t care. That’s the greatest aspect of Conor’s mentality – he doesn’t care about the last minute changes.
Imagine the situation where Conor refuses to fight Nate Diaz. You couldn’t blame Conor if that was the case; Conor was preparing for Rafael Dos Anjos. RDA is very different from Nate stylistically. While RDA has been great at 155 and stopped Pettis and Cerrone, Conor would’ve caused him a lot of problems, simply because RDA isn’t very mobile on his feet (compared to Conor), and it would’ve been interesting to see the stand-up warfare.
However, Nate Diaz was a completely different opponent, with a completely different skill set.
While Nate has proved in the past that he, along with his brother Nick, has one of the best chins in the business, Nate’s Jiu-Jitsu is underrated, and once the fight went to the ground, he’d have no problem in disposing Conor off. That is exactly what happened during the fight.
However, Conor knew very well that Nate was a bad match up.
Not only was Conor unable to get inside Nate’s head, but Nate Diaz is one of those fighters who’d unsettle his opponents inside the Octagon with his trash talk and mind games. Conor had met his match when it came to the mental warfare, and that worked against Conor. However, Conor did what no other fighter would do, especially when they have everything to lose.
Conor’s Achilles heel: Moving up two weight classes
While Conor can talk a great game about moving up and facing the champions, it is quite realistic that Conor did not anticipate the differences in not just the cardio and conditioning, but also in the amount of energy you’d expend.
Nate is used to getting hit at 155 and 170, but Conor isn’t used to hitting the 155 or 170 guys, or getting hit by them.
In his post-fight interviews, Conor stressed about underestimating Nate’s efficiency in connecting with his jabs, and also about expending too much energy in the first two rounds. When the fighters talk about different weight classes being a “whole other world”, they aren’t lying. Fighting at 145 is completely different from fighting at 155.
However, it would’ve been relatively easy for Conor to have tested himself first at 155, instead of directly jumping to 170.
This is why wrestling, boxing and MMA have weight classes. The fighters find out their optimum weight class, and then try to climb the ranks. There is a reason why “bigger” fighters tend to cut a lot of weight to fight at a particular weight class.
That is where they perform without gassing out too much, or spending a lot of energy. There is science behind fighting at a particular weight class, and while the pundits understand that, Conor still went into the event as a heavy favorite.
Again, Conor made people believe that he was untouchable, and that was all Conor. The fans need to realize that Conor didn’t set himself up to fail, but instead set Nate up to succeed. Conor was always going to be the underdog, but the fact that Conor still took the fight on 10 days’ notice to save the PPV says a lot about Conor as a professional.
Reports suggest that UFC 196 could end up being the biggest PPV in company’s history, and a lot of the credit goes to Conor McGregor.
Nate Diaz: Always a favorite going into UFC 196
Nate holds victories against the likes of Dong Hyun Kim and the perennial title contender at 170, Rory MacDonald.
Nate also holds a victory over Cerrone, and considering his impressive resume, it is puzzling how many people believed that Nate would walk into 196 as an underdog. While it is true that Nate didn’t have a training camp, a lot of people underestimate the crazy conditioning of the Diaz brothers.
Nate works with some of the best boxers, kickboxers and BJJ artists in the world. Nate and Nick Diaz are perhaps the only two fighters who are at their peak in cardio and conditioning, even when they’re not training. The Diaz brothers participate in triathlons, and have a crazy work out regime which involves cycling, running and swimming almost every day!
Nate would’ve stood up to Conor through all five rounds, but Conor would’ve spent all of his energy by the end of second round. Conor shooting Diaz, which eventually led to his demise, highlights how big of a disadvantage Conor had to overcome, and in the end, even Mystic Mac couldn’t get out of the predicament.
While Conor lost, he was always bound to come out on the losing end. Conor was moving up 25 pounds to fight Nate. Similar to Rousey’s coach, Conor’s coach might have to take some responsibility for the loss.
However, Conor McGregor, unlike Rousey, will not sulk. If we’ve learnt anything about Conor, it is that he will be back hungrier and with a point to prove, which is bad news for the fighters at 145.
