UFC 196: Conor McGregor Surprisingly Loses To Nate Diaz, Paying For His Mistakes

Before Saturday night’s UFC fight, Conor McGregor decided to already will himself the winner. Upon losing to Nate Diaz in a bloody battle, he seemed optimistic nonetheless.

CONOR MCGREGOR LOSES TO NATE DIAZ

“It’s a tough pill to swallow but we can either run from our adversity or run to our adversity, take it head on and conquer it,” he said after the loss.

The Irish fighter wanted a bigger bite out of UFC so decided to move up in his weight class and fight Diaz. When the buzzer sounded and Diaz’s punches landed on a stunned McGregor, he knew he might have made a mistake. Vowing to never stop a fight even if it meant his death, McGregor tapped the mat when Diaz held him in a suffocating chokehold.

“I have no excuses,” he said. “It is what it is. I took a chance, it didn’t pay off, I will be back.”

“He kept his composure,” McGregor said of Diaz. “He went into almost auto-pilot mode with the shots, his face was bruised up and I went into panic mode. It was a shift of energy and he capitalized on it.”

It seems that the fame and fortune might had gone to McGregor’s head before the fight considering he felt the need to show up to UFC events late, proclaim himself the greatest UFC fighter ever as well as the most powerful money-maker for the organization.

McGregor also seemed to be trying to capitalize on his signature leg kicks but lost at making contact. These moves cost him more energy which Diaz took advantage of early into the fight. Diaz stepped in to fight the Dublin native after his original opponent, Rafael dos Anjos, went down with an injury.