When John Kavanagh told McGregor that Chad Mendes would be stepping in for Jose Aldo at UFC 189, he retorted, ‘they’re all the same,’ before returning to his slumber..
The Notorious swiftly u-turned on this laissez-faire approach to combat preparation that Kavanagh detailed in his column with the42 after being humbled by another short-notice replacement nine month’s later.
When Nate Diaz entered McGregor’s life, everything changed.
By his own admission, McGregor usually doesn’t prepare for a specific opponent, but he made an exception for Diaz.
He realised after their first encounter that the Stockton native presented a challenge unlike any he’s faced before in his career. If McGregor’s mental warfare is a cannon capable of blasting his adversaries to dust before they even set foot on the battlefield, Diaz’s mind is an impenetrable fortress that nullifies its destructive powers.
Diaz knew this and that’s what set him apart from all of McGregor’s prior opponents in the UFC. After outclassing Michael Johnson over three rounds, he sent the featherweight champion a warning that he should have heeded.
“Conor McGregor, you’re taking everything I worked for, motherfucker. I’m going to fight your fuckin’ ass! You know what’s the real fight, what’s the real money fight – it’s me. Not those clowns you already punked at the press conference.”
That expletive-laden call-out wasn’t mindless trash-talk in pursuit of generating hype or column inches. It was the truth.
WATCH: Nate Diaz roars the complete opposite of a subtle call-out to Conor McGregor https://t.co/cLiIvIIkiF pic.twitter.com/rDBwuHTQs4
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) December 20, 2015
Everything he roared in that famous Octagon interview rang true. The record-breaking revenue their first dance generated and the unprecedented purses they earned in the sequel covers his ‘money fight’ theory, and his unwillingness to rise to McGregor’s pre-fight posturing played a factor in his ability to bring a ‘real fight’ to the Dubliner. That’s why he wasn’t surprised when he forced the tap with that rear-naked choke in the second round.
With one of his most effective weapons out of action for act two, McGregor was forced to change tact. That’s why he brought tall, talented pugilist Conor Wallace and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black-belt Dillon Danis into his training camp. He knew the same psyche-out game that caused Diego Brandao, Dustin Poirier and Jose Aldo to let their aggression get the better of them and get caught wasn’t going to work against Diaz. The only way to beat Diaz is to out-fight him, and that’s exactly what he did in the T-Mobile Arena on Sunday morning.
A more calm, calculated strategy was implemented. The holy haymakers from hell were still thrown, but when they dropped Diaz in the first round McGregor knew better than to follow him down the hostile environment of the mat where Diaz truly shines. The addition of bruising leg-kicks to tear up his lead leg and that expertly-executed takedown defence against the fence are also signs of fighter-specific preparation. The ‘kill or be killed’ attitude wasn’t quite there in the early stages, but that’s not the way great champions engage in the art of war.
McGregor’s more cautious approach paid off when the inevitable Diaz resurgence occurred. During the unrelenting flurry of lethal combinations against the fence, McGregor had enough in the reserve to remain on his feet until the buzzer sounded. When Diaz started gathering momentum on the feet, he was able to weather the storm and fire back when the opportunity presented itself. He kept fighting until the very end.
There was a level of respect there that we hadn’t seen from McGregor the first time these two warriors did battle, which is something he addressed in the post-fight presser.
“I tell you what, man. His face was opened up and he was still just coming at me. You’ve got to respect that. You’ve got to respect Nate and the style of fighting that he brings. How can you not?”
He’s right, too. How could you not respect Nate Diaz when doing so could prove to be so fatal?
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