UFC 196: McGregor vs. Diaz (3/5/2016) - Las Vegas, NV (MGM Grand Garden Arena)

[Niners Fan in CT]

What we learned tonight is that Dana's cash cows love to make excuses. Nate took a fight without a camp on short notice with no fucks given and beat his ass with no fucks given. No excuses. McGregor on the other hand had to mention several times his loss was because of the jump in weight class never mind the fact that he makes a living beating up on smaller guys.

 

Then Tate wins and immediately Ronda is ready to go lol. 

 

Her and McGregor can both fuck off. They make for great heels I suppose.

[TheVileOne]

So the UFC could basically end up with Rousey and McGregor on the same card like they wanted to anyway and break whatever the PPV record is? Yeah, Dana should be crying hard.

 

They might have to put Frankie Edgar on suicide watch as the next 3 weeks play out.

 

Only if they both make it to UFC 200.  Of course McGregor is going to pick Aldo.  No way he wants Edgar if he's going to kill himself again to go down to featherweight, which again, I don't know how the hell he does it this time.

[Elsalvajeloco]

What we learned tonight is that Dana's cash cows love to make excuses. Nate took a fight without a camp on short notice with no fucks given and beat his ass with no fucks given. No excuses. McGregor on the other hand had to mention several times his loss was because of the jump in weight class never mind the fact that he makes a living beating up on smaller guys.

 

Then Tate wins and immediately Ronda is ready to go lol. 

 

Her and McGregor can both fuck off.

 

McGregor really hasn't made excuses. Just from the press conference, he was giving Nate his props. He has made anything but excuses really.

[Niners Fan in CT]

I watched the press conference.  He only gave Diaz his due in a round about way and blamed it more on moving up in weight. But that's fine with me because Diaz gave McGregor no kind of respect after that.  It was fun.

 

Tate showed more respect for Holly and she won her fight lol.

[Elsalvajeloco]

 

So the UFC could basically end up with Rousey and McGregor on the same card like they wanted to anyway and break whatever the PPV record is? Yeah, Dana should be crying hard.

 

They might have to put Frankie Edgar on suicide watch as the next 3 weeks play out.

 

Only if they both make it to UFC 200.  Of course McGregor is going to pick Aldo.  No way he wants Edgar if he's going to kill himself again to go down to featherweight, which again, I don't know how the hell he does it this time.

 

 

Patrick Wyman...who has made the point forever and has been pretty great in terms of his analysis when it comes to that trio at 145 pretty much pointed out that Conor is so much bigger than Edgar.

 

The thing is...the built in feud is with Aldo. Now Aldo can actual fire back at Conor without looking stupid hyping this fight up.

[Elsalvajeloco]

I watched the press conference.  He only gave Diaz his due in a round about way and blamed it more on moving up in weight. But that's fine with me because Diaz gave McGregor no kind of respect after that.  It was fun.

 

They're cool outside the cage. Nate has respect for McGregor as his folks pointed out before the fight was made.

[Niners Fan in CT]

Aldo's tweet kind of made him look stupid. I get what he was going for but it's like..  okay, you got dropped in record time, its not a good look to be cheering on McGregor's demise after your colossal fail.

[glfpunk]

I watched the press conference. He only gave Diaz his due in a round about way and blamed it more on moving up in weight. But that's fine with me because Diaz gave McGregor no kind of respect after that. It was fun.

Tate showed more respect for Holly and she won her fight lol.

This is a weird opinion. I watched the press conference and didn't think Conor made any excuses. They asked him specifically about fighting a bigger opponent and he specifically said that wasn't why he lost the fight. And then he gave his opinion on why he lost the fight. Nate however made excuses for taking damage and was making excuses before the fight even happened in case he lost. How many times did Nate talk about not having a full camp? When pretty much every losing fighter or trainer of the fighter goes the route of "I'm not making any excuses but...", Conor was basically the opposite of that. I don't know where you got that from.

[Niners Fan in CT]

It was right at the beginning of the conference. But it's not something I'm going to make a big deal over maybe I heard him wrong, it didn't sit well with me.  But Ronda, now that really did not sit well with me.  All this talk about how damaged she was as a person etc.. etc..  and now all of a sudden she's ready to go?  Makes it look like she was trying to dodge Holly.

[Elsalvajeloco]

Aldo's tweet kind of made him look stupid. I get what he was going for but it's like..  okay, you got dropped in record time, its not a good look to be cheering on McGregor's demise after your colossal fail.

 

Aldo I get because he's building up a potential fight. I actually don't get RDA tweeting because he just lost out on a serious payday. It was like Cyborg celebrating Ronda's loss. You just essentially lost millions of dollars to someone else. Tate is going to get Cris' (and Holly's money) while Aldo or Edgar is getting RDA's money. I don't think RDA vs. Khabib II is big of a draw outside of Fox, which would be a likely destination for that fight.

[Elsalvajeloco]

But Ronda, now that really did not sit well with me.  All this talk about how damaged she was as a person etc.. etc..  and now all of a sudden she's ready to go?  Makes it look like she was trying to dodge Holly.

 

Andreas Hale said the same thing.

 

Two things though

 

1) Anyone who knows Ronda knows she is too much of a competitor to just sit out several months and not do anything. Even if Holly won tonight, I would have bet money she would have came back way before November just because she would have seen that fight and got motivated to get back in the gym. You don't go from taking every fight Dana and the UFC throws at you (being the ultimate company person) to being depressed for an entire year. That's not her MO.

 

2) Her movie projects have been all but delayed. So what's she gonna do? Just chill with Travis Browne for half a year, go to local wrestling shows, and blow up to 160 or 170 pounds? People get bored easily. (See: Penn, BJ)

[glfpunk]

It was right at the beginning of the conference. But it's not something I'm going to make a big deal over maybe I heard him wrong, it didn't sit well with me.  But Ronda, now that really did not sit well with me.  All this talk about how damaged she was as a person etc.. etc..  and now all of a sudden she's ready to go?  Makes it look like she was trying to dodge Holly.

 

I don't think so.  With Holly, it was Ronda's only loss in her career.  She wasn't about to jump into a rematch too soon before being completely prepared for her which is understandable.  With Tate, this is a person that Ronda has already destroyed.  Twice.  I would imagine that the thing that Ronda wants most is to avenge her only loss in her career. Not that she was ducking Holly. 

[Niners Fan in CT]

Yeah, I don't doubt her competitiveness she was just doing a little too much with this depression stuff. Maybe she really was depressed but it's not something that should be taken lightly and now the way these events have transpired and the timeline and everything make her look bad.  I still don't think I'm buying it. She needs to get in there with Holly again at some point and preferably soon.

[glfpunk]

Yeah, I don't doubt her competitiveness she was just doing a little too much with this depression stuff. Maybe she really was depressed but it's not something that should be taken lightly and now the way these events have transpired and the timeline and everything make her look bad.  I still don't think I'm buying it. She needs to get in there with Holly again at some point and preferably soon.

 

Now you're  insinuating that she was lying about being depressed?

[Elsalvajeloco]

Yeah, I don't doubt her competitiveness she was just doing a little too much with this depression stuff. Maybe she really was depressed but it's not something that should be taken lightly and now the way these events have transpired and the timeline and everything make her look bad.  I still don't think I'm buying it. She needs to get in there with Holly again at some point and preferably soon.

 

If she beats Tate again and Holm wins her next match, then they're meeting at the end of the year or the New Year's show probably.

 

Personally, I think one of Ronda's biggest problem is that she is extremely savvy with the media and somehow not at all at the same time. When you're marketable winner and a terrible loser, those things do not mix. I think she has used all those stories from past about losing (her early losses in Judo and the like) and not handling it well to build up her confidence to this extreme level. The bad side to that is when the media reinforces it because it's great for them to do so, you're going to fall a long way. Instead of looking at that and saying she might need to look into that psychologically (making up stories about beating people up, the stuff about her dad), they built her up as this great symbol of feminism, positive body image, and how it's great for women to embrace their flaws. You can do that if it's Lena Dunham, Amy Schumer, or some other flavor of the week. Maybe somebody like Serena Williams who has been around forever now. The thing with fight sports (especially MMA) is that when you lose, you really lose. So the only thing the media could really do is put her under a microscope, which she has handled in a very bad way. However, this shouldn't surprised anyone.

[Setsuna]

Just finished watching the main show now. Took an easy money job this morning knowing there would be a replay and that this way I'd actually be able to get the prelim shows to watch later. It's really saying something that UFC prelims look better on paper than any competing companies main cards.Will get to those later tonight.

 

Tate keeps the shine on the women's BW division with another spectacular finish. I thought we were going to end up with a SD win for Tate by that 5th Rd but man, what a way to end the fight. I don't know anything about Ronda, we don't get the hype or the interviews on daytime shows or sports networks here so I miss out on a lot of the stuff that is said between shows. I pretty much watch the fights and read the news here. Having said that, I kind of thought Holm-Rousey II would have been a bad idea for Ronda right away. Even if Tate beats here, there's no chance it's going to be the kind of beating that Holm put on her. I'm all-in for Tate-Rousey again but yeah, poor Holly. Shitty situation to be in now not long after one of the biggest upsets in history. 

 

That Diaz fight went down a way that a lot of people predicted it might. I'm almost scared to check Facebook now cause when Ronda lost there was soooo much hate from people I thought knew better than to be that person. I wonder if McGregor's getting that same treatment now...The guy stepped up on short notice, lost, gave Diaz his props and said he'll be better next time. The guy's a class act in-between the immediate fight-selling and self-promotion.

 

And GSP fighting Lawler? Wow, why not? I think it's a bad move for GSP but what do I know? Lawler's probably more beatable than a lot of recent UFC champs but he's gonna hurt you either way Georges. You ready for that?

[peterien]

Before I start i just wanna say im a part time MMA fan so tear apart my comment if you please.

I think the defeat doesn't hurt Conor that much in the medium term of things he'll still get the big money fights and the attraction is still there...for now.

One thing that may hurt him (and it was mentioned earlier by someone,so credit to them) is John Kavanagh. Conor has to move away from him if he wants to better himself and get over this defeat. A new coach would teach him how to deal with people like Diaz,Dos Anjos,Lawler etc.

Kavanaghs tactics when Conor got rocked by punches? Go to the ground, which is Conors weak spot. Doesn't make any fucking sense to me, surely other coaches would have a better game plan than this. Kavanagh has taken him as far as he can in my opinion, for Conors sake he needs a change.

Another thing that struck me was that Conor was pretty much gassed by round one. Its one thing doing movement drills carrying that weight but rounds in the octagon is a different story. Diazs "Who do you train with?"comment has way more legitimacy than anyone thought.

[ecchirebirth]

This will sound weird, but, is Nate actually emotionally stable enough to be champion? The guy has pretty obvious social anxiety and hates talking to the press and whatnot, but he'll have to do that as champ. 

[Kyuubi]

Aldo's tweet kind of made him look stupid. I get what he was going for but it's like..  okay, you got dropped in record time, its not a good look to be cheering on McGregor's demise after your colossal fail.

MCGregor told him that he would ride in his country on horseback, raid the favelas, and kill anyone that was not fit to work.

 

No, he can be angry and cheer for Conor's demise.

[Setsuna]

This will sound weird, but, is Nate actually emotionally stable enough to be champion? The guy has pretty obvious social anxiety and hates talking to the press and whatnot, but he'll have to do that as champ. 

 

Yes.

 

He's probably not going to bathe in the limelight like some other champions but that's no reason to not give him a shot at the title. He could be very marketable, maybe not in the way that a Conor or Jones is, but that's on them to work out. You can bring him out for just a few press events pre-fight and he's gonna sell a hell of a lot more tickets than somebody like Dos Anjos.

[Kevin Wilson]

Even in the context that Dana can do whatever he wants, which trumps all other requirements, wouldn't Nate have to do... something else to get a title shot in his division? Yes he beat the golden boy at catchweight but he lost 3 of his last 5 fights before that. Since I don't think the UFC really trusts him I would be surprised if he went straight to a title shot from here. I think White will think about it, remember how hard it is to get the Diaz brothers to do things, and put him in a different fight first. But at least his next fight will be on PPV and not Fox.

[twiztor]

Nate Diaz likely gets a high profile title eliminator match. Lightweight has too many possible contenders to jump Nate to the top of the list, especially since he already was destroyed by RDA.

 

Rousey immediately "ready to come back" is a bitch move. i hope she's still got depression issues and Tate beats her ass.

[Elsalvajeloco]

Before I start i just wanna say im a part time MMA fan so tear apart my comment if you please.

I think the defeat doesn't hurt Conor that much in the medium term of things he'll still get the big money fights and the attraction is still there...for now.

One thing that may hurt him (and it was mentioned earlier by someone,so credit to them) is John Kavanagh. Conor has to move away from him if he wants to better himself and get over this defeat. A new coach would teach him how to deal with people like Diaz,Dos Anjos,Lawler etc.

Kavanaghs tactics when Conor got rocked by punches? Go to the ground, which is Conors weak spot. Doesn't make any fucking sense to me, surely other coaches would have a better game plan than this. Kavanagh has taken him as far as he can in my opinion, for Conors sake he needs a change.

Another thing that struck me was that Conor was pretty much gassed by round one. Its one thing doing movement drills carrying that weight but rounds in the octagon is a different story. Diazs "Who do you train with?"comment has way more legitimacy than anyone thought.

 

To Kavanagh's credit, I believe I saw someone tweet that he did tell Conor in between rounds to not put so much on his punches. That's something I actually agree with.

 

Conor tried to fight at his normal pace with added muscle and didn't account for Nate being able to survive the first few volleys. He would stopped plenty of fighters at featherweight and lightweight, but Nate was able to keep up and continue to fight. Conor kept spamming that overhand left and uppercut. Instead, he should have slowed the pace down (much like he did in the Siver fight to finish him) and let the punishment soak in. Nate was able to keep the jab in his face and keep him honest. McGregor really didn't throw any kicks to the body save for maybe one and that would've slowed Nate down. He needed to get to Nate's gas tank because he was the one who was use to fighting at that weight.

 

I do think he does need to vary up his attacks beyond those two punches and those exotic kicks because I think fighters are becoming hip to that and try to create counters. Whether that happens under Owen Roddy and SBG or someone else, I dunno. His straight left hand is phenomenal, but not everyone is going to be frozen or slept when they hit. They have to set it up with the kicks or something else and then go to that toolbox. When you go to that instantly and the kicks are absent, it makes it harder to control the pace of the fight.

 

FWIW, Dana is tossing around the possibility of Nate vs. Robbie Lawler. However, they are talking to GSP right now so that might just be something in their back pocket.

[Niners Fan in CT]

 

Yeah, I don't doubt her competitiveness she was just doing a little too much with this depression stuff. Maybe she really was depressed but it's not something that should be taken lightly and now the way these events have transpired and the timeline and everything make her look bad.  I still don't think I'm buying it. She needs to get in there with Holly again at some point and preferably soon.

 

Now you're  insinuating that she was lying about being depressed?

 

 

It wasn't long ago she was depressed now this result happens and she's ready to go. Quick turnaround. Very convenient. And I don't think I have to take everything an athlete says as fact. I'm looking at the timeline and for me it's not adding up. 

[El Ken Erico]

Depression doesn't follow logic. She just lost to Holly a few months ago but she knows how to beat Miesha. One thing can be a trip around the world and the other a visit to the supermarket.