In December 2015, Conor knocked out a dangerous striker Jose Aldo in thirteen seconds with a timely left hook to the jaw to claim the featherweight championship title.
The aura of invincibility about him increased and his pursuit of greatness lead him to the scheduled match against a grappler-turned-striker lightweight champion Raphael Dos Anjos.
This clash of champions from different weight divisions had never happened before. All waited restlessly to behold the historical fight that would come into fruition.
A twist of fate united the McGregor and Diaz when incumbent champion Dos Anjos was pulled from the fight of a broken foot.
Long story short, here we are, one minute before the start of fourth round in McGregor vs Diaz 2.
A 66 kilogram king versus a 70 kilogram contender; locking horns in an unfamiliar territory of 77 kilogram division.
Digging deep
The prospect did not look good. The Notorious One definitely lost the third round with the fourth coming up and a possibility of a fifth round. The only way to win was not only by beating his arch nemesis, but essentially conquering himself.
Coach Kavanagh said that this was what they were preparing for. McGregor had to dig deep and push through the fatigue and breathlessness if he wanted to avenge his first and only lost in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
We can only imagine what McGregor was thinking during that brief one minute of rest in between rounds. However, we could believe that he was playing back what he said right after his loss to Nate in the press conference:
We could either run from adversity or we can face our adversity head on and conquer it. And that is what I plan to do. I’ll face it. I’ll take it on the chin and I’ll carry on. I’ll learn.
