While many of you were dozing soundly in bed, an Irishman was off winning a war in that storied front of ,er, Las Vegas. That said, Conor McGregor's majority decision victory over Nate Diaz was a triumphant end to all-out war. McGregor shaded it on two of the three scorecards after five, exhaustive five-minute rounds. To put McGregor's staying power into context, prior to this fight he had never fought into the fourth round with the UFC. Here, his hand was hoisted aloft at the end of the fifth.
McGregor was loathe to get caught up in a brawl with the bigger man, and in the first round, his tactics were perfect. For his once-omnipotent left jab, see the Irishman's leg-kicks: evidently a capital investment he hoped would pay off in the later rounds: the "championship rounds", as John Kavanagh called them.
Diaz found a second wind in the second round, and ended the third looking the most likely to victory, with McGregor forced to endure an astonishing, 30-second flurry of punches at the end of the third. Yet McGregor summoned energy once again to close out the fight, and McGregor earned the scorn of Diaz and much of the arena later in the fight, when he turned his back and walked away from his opponent rather than become embroiled in a brawl.
In the end, the Irishman clung on. This Esquire magazine profile on McGregor from 2015 says that McGregor "doesn't believe in time, or at least he won't submit to it", but here he looked pleadingly at the clock on a number of occasions in the final round, and with some great takedown defence, eventually won out. It was much a triumph of McGregor keeping his cool, and sticking to his pre-fight tactics as a victory over Diaz.
A third installment with Diaz awaits, but for now, the Irish who did get up this morning were exultant.
Some fight to win... McGregor gets it..👌👏 #toughyoke #rematch #McGregorDiaz2
— Brendan Cummins (@BrenCummins1) August 21, 2016
Boom @TheNotoriousMMA 💪💪💪💪💪🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪
— Shane Lowry (@ShaneLowryGolf) August 21, 2016
Cement that lets out a lot of blood https://t.co/lfVwCvrOJx
— Shane Lowry (@ShaneLowryGolf) August 21, 2016
Yes yes yes get in there you dancer!!!! What a fight!!! What a great night!!! Respect to Nat!! But @TheNotoriousMMA is the daddy 🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪
— Noel Hunt 🌐 (@Noelhunt20) August 21, 2016
Giddy up ye 2 dancers!! The hole country is so proud! Well done boys🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪 https://t.co/fXhyqDDplR
— Noel Hunt 🌐 (@Noelhunt20) August 21, 2016
Yaaaaaahhhhhhh @TheNotoriousMMA surprise surprise muthaf#*kers!!! We cut them up that's what we do!! Congrats brother proud of you! #UFC202
— Michael Conlan (@mickconlan11) August 21, 2016
You made @ufc that's what I subscribe too @TheNotoriousMMA
— Sean St Ledger (@seanstledger12) August 21, 2016
That was a close fight ... Trilogy will be ace
— Conor.mortimer (😷)⚽️ (@Conmort) August 21, 2016
What a fight..Diaz is some hard motherfu**er!!!End of the 3rd round looked shaky but some win for #ConorMcGregor.
— Eoin Cadogan (@cads3) August 21, 2016
And one international star:
INSPIRING. Thank you both men for layin' it all out on the line. Massive respect. #ConorMcGregor #NateDiaz #UFC202 https://t.co/Z4NTgSZXKa
— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) August 21, 2016
