Mcgregor gains his revenge
Irish mixed martial arts fighter Conor Mcgregor won a thrilling decision victory over Nate Diaz in their rematch at UFC 202 in Las Vegas yesterday.
Featherweight champion Mcgregor had stepped up two weight classes to fight Diaz at welterweight in March but was submitted by the Californian in the second round.
Both fighters did heavy damage but neither could find the knockout blow over five bloody rounds. Judges gave Mcgregor a majority decision victory, setting the stage for a third fight.
Although, Mcgregor insisted that he would only step into the octagon again with Diaz at lightweight.
‘‘Surprise, surprise... The king is back,’’ Mcgregor proclaimed after two judges scored the fight 48-47 in his favour, with the third scoring it a draw.
‘‘If you want the trilogy, come back down to 155 pounds and we’ll do it.
‘‘My coach says we win or we learn and I learned from the last fight. Let’s do the trilogy but on my terms. At 155 pounds.
‘‘I went up to 170 pounds, I fought the bigger man. He’s a hell of a competitor. He brought out the best in me.’’
Diaz, unsurprisingly, says he thought he should have had the decision.
‘‘I thought I won that fight,’’ said Diaz. ‘‘We’re going for three. For real.’’
Mcgregor downed Diaz early in the first round with a stinging left hand and fought a tactical fight, peppering his opponent’s front leg with kicks.
Diaz hit the deck twice early in the second round but Mcgregor declined to take the fight to the mat, signalling for Diaz to get up.
Known for his durability, Diaz then landed two telling strikes of his own, forcing Mcgregor back against the cage towards the end of the round and grabbing the momentum.
Diaz came close to finishing it in the third but Mcgregor somehow stayed on his feet despite a series of heavy blows.
Both fighters were struggling with fatigue in the final two rounds, which were heavy on clinches around the cage, and Diaz managed to take Mcgregor down in the final seconds of the fifth.
The flamboyant Mcgregor is the biggest draw in the UFC, as shown by his $3 million paycheck for the fight.
While a third fight between the two would be a huge draw, the UFC is keen for Mcgregor to defend the featherweight title he won by beating Jose Aldo last December or to vacate it.
In the co-main event, Anthony Johnson landed a devastating uppercut 13 seconds into the first round to knock out Glover Teixeira.
Johnson flattened Teixeira with the shot, forcing the referee to call an early end to the fight.
‘‘I’m coming for you Daniel,’’ Johnson said after the fight, speaking to current light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier, who was seated near the cage.
In the main undercard fights, Donald Cerrone got an impressive knockout victory over Rick Story in a battle of ranked welterweights.
And bantamweight prospect Cody Garbrandt notched his fifth UFC win with a devastating firstround knockout over veteran Japanese fighter Takeya Mizugaki.