He was excellent at switching from being a counterstriker, slipping away from punches and landed his precision power left; to a measured aggressor, pushing forward whenever safe and backing up when it got too hot.
Being a left-handed fighter, Diaz had the tendency to place his body weight on the front left leg when attacking. Copying from the playbook of Diaz’ previous opponent, McGregor capitalized on Diaz' habit and landed numerous hard kicks to the thigh.
Repeating this routine, Diaz was knocked down early several times. First round was for Conor to claim.
Questions flooded the minds of the audiences:
Could this lead to the win for Conor McGregor?
Would his patience and striking economy last him the entire five five-minutes rounds?
Or could his trusty left punches bring him yet to another blemish in his record?
The crowd had to hold their breath as McGregor started to slow down on the third round. The chant for Diaz swelled as he started to land combinations of his own since the closing half of the second round. Up until then, indeed Conor looked phenomenal.
The war ensued on the surface of the cage as both battled for position in the clinch. Pinning his opponent against the wall, Diaz drove his weight on Mcgregor and smothered him with assortment of punches, short elbows and knee strikes.
Dissenters and critics told the 28 years-old Conor Anthony McGregor that he was delusional. In no way whatsoever could the crowned champion of the featherweight division beat the durable Nate Diaz in a welterweight fight.
