This is how Nate Diaz can beat Conor McGregor, according to UFC veteran

Conor McGregor is on an imperious run in the UFC.

The Irishman is unbeaten in he organisation with his 7-0 run culminating in a spectacular 13-second knock-out of former featherweight champion Jose Aldo.

So far The Notorious has been untouchable in the UFC – but that hasn’t stopped fighters and pundits queuing up to have their say on how to beat him.

Lightweight contender Eddie Alvarez reckons taking the Dubliner to the ground is a sure-fire way to stop his juggernaut march through the ranks – and it looked like we were going to see him tested in this way against world class ground fighter Rafael dos Anjos.

But a broken foot to RDA put the kibosh on this clash – and Nate Diaz took the fight with 11 days notice…at welterweight.

But UFC veteran Brian Stann believes McGregor is the faster, smarter and fitter fighter going into this bout. He reckons The SBG man will be looking to work his way inside, counter Diaz’s strikes with quicker punches and pound his slow lead leg with kicks.

However, the retired middleweight told MMA Hour he believes Diaz can have a good chance against McGregor with the right tactics.

“He doesn’t mind getting hit and he’s not necessarily easy to hit, but he doesn’t mind it because his chin is so good.

“But the real key is, he’s got to use his reach. He’s got to maximise it, even if he misses early, he’s got to keep his range where Conor can’t collapse in on him and hit him.

“Tag him at the end of his punches over and over again and force McGregor to get a little frustrated and explode through the space sloppy.”

Then again Stann reckons the greatest Achilles’ heel McGregor has is on the ground – somewhere that Diaz can look to finish the fight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lu0loLWtRWA

“Get him desperate to hit him and desperate to reach him and when he does that, grab him, clinch him, overhook him and try and wrap your arms around his head. Do anything you can to create a scramble because Nate has very sneaky chokes in transition.

“That’s when Nate Diaz will catch you. Nate Diaz catches you in a submission when you start messing around with him in the transitional phase.

“If Conor gets on top of him and established on the ground, Conor’s good on the ground too and he’ll avoid it.”

“But if he can get his arms around a neck, he can do something if he gets Conor frustrated and then he can maybe create a submission out of nothing.

“But the big problem is if Nate works hard, if he goes chasing him too much, and he starts to get frustrated, that’s going to eat away at his cardio. Especially when we feel that McGregor is going to attack that body early.”

Stann told the MMA Hour that frustrating McGregor’s normal stand-up game could be the key to unsettling the featherweight champion and taking him into territory he has never been before.

“He’s got a long time to work. he’s got five rounds. He wants to finish him in one, so you can guarantee Conor will come out aggressive. But stay relaxed, stay at the end of your punches, make him have to explode through the space in a sloppy fashion – (McGregor) ends up getting hit, ends up getting sloppy and ends up out of his game. 

“Then you start doing some of the Diaz taunting, put the finger in his face and start pointing and laughing at him and reverse the tables on Conor. See if you can frustrate him. 

“Conor can’t reach you, Conor can’t hit you, but he’s getting tagged over and over with that jab and now you get the crowd going on him for a while.

“How does Conor deal with that? How does he walk back to his corner after round one a little bit embarrassed with Diaz standing there like this (arms raised aloft).”