“SURPRISE, SURPRISE! THE king is back!” said McGregor.
And, if it was missing since defeat in March, a little swagger returned too.
The Dubliner immediately set his sights on a third meeting with Nate Diaz after tonight’s epic rematch however. Though the final instalment of what would be a famous UFC trilogy has to happen on McGregor’s terms, he insists.
“All I know is it’s one-one,” the SBG fighter told Joe Rogan after his majority decision victory over the Stockton fighter.
“Regroup, boy, we’ll do it again. If you want this trilogy, it’s on my terms. I came up to 170, now you’ll come back to 155 and we’ll finish what we’ve started. I knew what I had to do this time around and I did it.”
Asked if strong kicks — like Rafael Dos Anjos employed against Diaz — were part of the strategy cooked up on the Naas Rd, MacGregor said: “You’re damn right. But he took them better than I expected.
“He didn’t let me know. The first three rounds, I proved the difference in class. But then that toughness and durability that he has crept back in, in the later rounds.
“But it was a hell of a fight, he’s a hell of a competitor. He brought out the best in me.”
He added: “Like my coach said, we win or we learn. And I learned from the last contest.”
Nate Diaz too insisted he wanted a concluding chapter to the rivalry with McGregor.
“I came here to fight. I want number three, I gave him number two, so let’s do it,” he said. “Thank you to my team, Richard Perez, Gilbert, Jake and my brother Nick Diaz he’s the best fighter in the world. Peace out, Stockton.”
Hard luck Leitrim but ye voted against reinstating Tony Keady all those years ago. So I’ve no gra for ye at all.
@fergusob: “ye” being who exactly?
@Shane Healy: well Tis not Leitrim, Sligo, Roscommon or mayo.
Good day sir.
Well done South Derry …im a derry man and want to call out shite management, south derry bias in selection and just poor short sighted county board. Shit show