ALWAYS TAKE WHAT you hear from a fighter in the aftermath of a bout with a grain of salt.
Understandably, after Conor McGregor was defeated by Nate Diaz at UFC 196, he was inundated with questions from the media about his next move.
A featherweight title bout against Jose Aldo or Frankie Edgar was mooted, and I would have been quite satisfied with either fight. However, the landscape gradually changed and that inaugural 145lbs title defence is now going to have to wait.
I don’t believe people should have microphones stuck in their faces immediately after a fight. There’s a lot going through your mind at a time like that so the response you’re forced to give may not necessarily be an accurate reflection of your views.
When we got back to the changing room after the fight, a rematch with Diaz was already being discussed. A defence of Conor’s featherweight belt was also mentioned, but as the hours drifted by, the frustration of not doing himself justice began to take hold and grate.
Conor chased this rematch. That’s how it has come about. He’s much more concerned about trying to give a perfect representation of his ability than he is about material things like belts or money. That’s just a fact. Money is certainly not a motivating factor anymore because he has already made plenty of it.
Conor believes that the last fight didn’t accurately reflect the skills and ability he possesses, so he’s eager to address that. He ended up harassing UFC president Dana White and CEO Lorenzo Fertitta on a daily basis for a rematch. This is the fight that’s of most interest to him right now.
I doubt that any non-biased observer could look at the first round of that 5 March bout at the MGM Grand and not score it in Conor’s favour. For me, we saw the technical difference between the two fighters in that opening frame. The difference in the second round was down to cardio, and a cardio issue is much easier to rectify than a skill one.
Going into that second round, the gameplan was straightforward: repeat what had happened in the first round… for five rounds, if necessary. However, that’s not how it ultimately played out.
Conor’s cardio wasn’t as it should have been, but there was certainly no complacency. We didn’t train any differently for the fight. I believe it was more a case of there being a strategy error i.e. trying to stop a bigger man who’s known for having a strong chin with every single punch.
When you’re landing punches on any opponent, it gets tiring. There’s no two ways about that. With a strategy adjustment, the fight is going to play out in a similar manner to that first round, but this time it will continue throughout the contest. I do believe Conor is the more skilful fighter and the first round was evidence of that. But we cannot make the same mistake by trying to remove his head with every single punch.
It was a fight that was set up on short notice and it didn’t go our way, but there are certainly no regrets about going ahead with it when turning it down would have been very understandable. The entire process has been a tremendous learning experience.
If Conor had gone through his entire career without pitting his skillset against that type of opponent, there would have been no window for learning. The Jose Aldo fight in December was iconic, it was beautiful to watch and all that, but we didn’t really take away a whole lot from it.
With this one, I feel we’ve yielded months of lesson plans. It has really reignited the fire in both Conor and myself. We’re excited about training for it and we’ve made some good plans which involve some adjustments, including spending a little bit more time out in Las Vegas. We’ll make some minor changes to the training to get used to that particular opponent and we won’t be overly-reliant on Conor’s left hand to secure the result.
That was Conor’s 22nd professional fight but I probably learned more about him from it than I had in his entire career to date. We had no excuses whatsoever for the loss. Second best on the night, simple as that. It’s gone. Learn from it and move on to the next one.
The win over Max Holloway in August 2013 — the only time Conor has been to a decision — was good in that there were 15 minutes of material, but there wasn’t much back-and-forth action to dissect. Max’s aim in that fight was to survive, rather than win. Nate, on the other hand, came forward and pursued the victory.
We took a huge amount of information away from it and you don’t get that from short fights like Aldo, or even in a one-sided bout like Dennis Siver. This one was ideal as it highlighted some holes we need to fill in. As always, we win or we learn and we’ve certainly learned a lot from this one. The improvements will be very evident on 9 July.
We always knew that if Conor were ever to lose a fight, his detractors would revel in the result. To be completely honest, that hasn’t happened to the extent that I expected it to. The overwhelming theme of the majority of the messages we received was that people were blown away by the humility on display. It seemed to either turn people into new fans or just bigger fans.
Of course, some people will want to kick you while you’re down and I don’t mind that at all. I actually wouldn’t even begrudge anybody for doing so. That’s a big aspect of the entertainment side of the sport so you have to take the good with the bad. But the feedback has been mostly positive and encouraging, and I believe Conor has actually gained support because of how he handled it.
The wins never changed Conor so I don’t believe the losses will either. His confidence is a product of the training we do so it will be there again in the lead-up to this fight, because we will train in a way that makes us feel nothing but confident. If Conor went into the last fight and was completely wiped out in every area, it would be pretty hard to be absolutely confident going into a rematch.
But the skills were there. When the strategy veered off course, that led to exhaustion and the dynamic of the fight changed. An exhausted opponent is not difficult to defeat. That’s a mistake we made. Everyone makes mistakes, but the challenge now is to ensure that we don’t repeat them. The training and the strategy will be different this time. So too will the result.
* * *
On a related note, I’m delighted to announce that just over a week before Conor McGregor’s rematch with Nate Diaz at UFC 200, you’ll be able to get your hands on my autobiography — ‘Win or Learn’.
Published by Penguin Ireland and co-authored by The42‘s own Paul Dollery, the book will be available to buy on 30 June but you can pre-order your copy now from Amazon by clicking here.
I’ve been working hard on putting the book together over the last few months and it has been a really enjoyable experience. Our rise to the top in the UFC is often described as an overnight success but I can assure you that it has been a long, long journey to get here.
I’m sometimes asked if I ever stop to pinch myself and allow it all to sink in, but that’s quite hard to do while you’re living in the moment. However, writing the book has afforded me the opportunity to take a step back and appreciate just how far we’ve come.
I hope you find it as fascinating to read as it has been for me to write.
The42 is on Snapchat! Tap the button below on your phone to add!
Mighty insight. Love John’s articles and best of luck with the book. I’ll be buying it.
It is definitely in Nate’s corner… especially with a full camp and at the higher weight, Nate may be too much to handle. I reckon Conor should have fought Frankie or Aldo… and I’m a huge Conor fan. Just don’t want to see him lose and lose confidence.
Nate wanted to fight at 155, mcgregor wanted 170
According to Nate himself a full camp doesn’t make much difference to him. And he was in shape anyway for the first fight as he was training for a triathlon. What you saw against Conor was probably as good as he can get. Certainly when you look at his past performances.
Conor and John Kavanagh made a big strategic mistake which they have acknowledged. Now that Conor can more or less pick his fights it makes sense he wants redemption.
After Aldo, Conor got a bit carried away with his cockiness and belief in his knockout power. I doubt you will see Mystic Mac and picking the round this time around. The lessons have been learned and as good a fighter as Nate is a more methodical approach from Conor will see him dusted
I’m guessing if win or lose Conor fights the winner of Aldo v Edgar… The UFC will continue to milk the McGregor cash cow as long as they can….
If he felt it wouldn’t be one sided and he would come forward, Why didn’t they plan appropriately. In many ways it looked like Artem, Trying to land bombs and no game plan. I’m a huge fan of McGregors and was suprised at how he blew himself out. He was saying he is a smarter fighter than most but didn’t show it in that fight. Should of went to plan B much earlier in the fight.
*would
John I seen Eddie Bravo was very open to offer Conor some bjj coaching for this camp, is this something you guys think might be useful? Broaden Conors bjj variety if nothing else. I dont necessarily think bjj was the cause of being choked out (more so exhaustion) but it would certainly help negate Nate’s bjj if it did go to ground in the second fight.
You should have released the book and got an extra chapter after Diaz mc Gregor part 2. Also how do you allow a fighter not to be cardio fit for a 5 round match? Such a simple factor.
Might be the paperback!!
John-how come you hadn’t prepared him for 5 rounds? He was out on his feet after a round and a half!! New coach needed methinks
Wouldn’t say he was out on his feet after a round and a half . He looked very comfortable and was coasting then he got rattled by a big shot from Diaz that knocked him backwards and completely changed the course of the fight.
What you say contradicts what Conor himself said, that he had put everything into knocking Diaz out in round 1.
Sure he is the more skilful fighter, we all know that but there are major questions about his stamina and ability to go 5 rounds against a bigger brute fighter who can fight all day.
His wrestling skills are weak and I can only see one result to this fight, another win by submission for Diaz as soon as Conor starts to weaken, probably a round later assuming Conor paces himself a bit better.
I think you should be his new coach Baz
Nates size and range is always going to be tough for Conor to nullify. Im truly a fan of Conors but i dont understand his defense. It’s all head and core movement with his hands down and if he gets tired and as the fight goes on that movement slows down. And Nate will throw 300 punches in a fight lol you cant afford to slow down and get tagged. All the guys that beat Nate tend to do so with a smothering attack of wrestling and varied striking. Toe to Toe at a even pace is the toughest route to take to beat Nate Diaz. Anyone can be KO’d and i do feel Conor could if he landed flush put Nate down, but if you have to eat a thousand punches before the perfect punch lands you’ll never get to throw it because you’ll have lost long before then. Nates a dangerous fighter with decent wrestling and Judo and killer BJJ and Boxing. IT’ll be interesting to see how Conor approaches this rematch as well as Nate. Will Nate go in headhunting since he knows he was able to stagger Conor in their first fight? Or will he try to take Conor down? Gonna be interesting.
Getting paid millions for a fight and only able for one poxy round
He was blowing quite heavily immediately after the first round. He started to slow down, his shots, noticeably, had less power in them – Nate was starting to walk through them. His head movement was virtually non existent from mid round 2 and he became very flat footed. He was visibly gassed before he got tagged and Nate saw this – it was clear.
It is true to say it is easy to submit a gassed opponent but this next fight is a five round fight. Not 1.5 rounds as it was clear that Conor was done by midway through round 2. That means, assuming that the fight goes the distance, and you absolutely have to assume that if you are fighter or trainer, there is more than three times that amount of time for the entire fight. With that extra weight, against a substantially larger opponent with at least 10 pounds on him on fight night, with those skills it is a very big ask so they need plan a, b and c this time.
Conor needs to be conditioned for 5 gruelling rounds because if it goes to the floor in rounds 3, 4 or 5 and he isn’t it will have been a big mistake to have taken the rematch so soon.
What a stupid fight…go ahead and hold up your entire division to satisfy your ego with a meaningless rematch to a meaningless fight
All you damn bandwagoners disagreeing, I’ve been watching mma ten years and this rematch is the biggest farce yet.
Frankie Edgar deserves his shot, aldo deserves his rematch, but the golden goose wants a meaningless rematch with Diaz at 170, it doesn’t make a lick of sense and shame on UFC for letting Conor call the shots
lol – come back when you understand business.
10 years? So just when it got popular after TUF 1? Wow – not a bandwagoner at all. I’ve been watching since 1997 – when Ken Shamrock came to WWF and I wondered who he was, and rented UFC 1 from Laser video on Georges St. But guess what? How long you’ve been watching means NOTHING.
Matthew has been watching UFC since he was in the womb, you bunch of bandwagoners.
You look at it like a business I look at it like its a sport.
There is zero appetite for this fight, Conor will sell no matter who he fights.
You’re the same twit that thinks mcgregor winning the first round means anything.
Ps your Twitter feed makes for grim reading….so much anger
“There is zero appetite for this fight”
lol – come back after it breaks the UFC’s PPV record and try to say that again without looking stupid.
“You’re the same twit that thinks mcgregor winning the first round means anything.”
It means he was winning before he gassed. I never implied anything more than that. It means the result of this 2nd fight is not a lock, as some people are implying.
There is no appetite for this match at all…go on any mma forum. Fans aren’t happy at all.
It will probably break PPV records because it’s ufc 200 and Conor is a big draw regardless of opponent.
How does it make any sense that the 145 champion is fighting a meaningless fight at 170 while two 145ers fight it out for an intern title on the very same card.
Frankie Conor and Aldo Holloway on the same card was the better more sensible option
“go on any mma forum”
lol – MMA Forums are where the dumb ‘hardcore’ fans hang out – they know nothing about business. They hate Conor, they hate Brock, and they hate Ronda – the 3 biggest UFC PPV draws of all time. They moan about everything – but they still buy the show. The casual fans are the ones that UFC need to appeal to – that’s the difference between a 300k show and a >1m show.
“There is no appetite for this match at all”
lol – seriously…
You’re a massive wwe fan, your happy to see the credibility of a sport suffer so they can push the entertainment aspect. If you had your way the Harlem globe trotters would be mandatory to every nba finals.
So the forums are where the hardcore clueless fans hang out?
The real fans like yourself hang on Twitter all day calling people fat apparently.
For the record, most love Conor and the ones that don’t still respect him, they don’t hate him, it’s the clueless fair weathered fans who claim to be experts he brought along with him they hate
Tell me me trump, what happens when your golden goose loses? You’ve sacrificed credibility for spectacle, once that inevitably goes tits up your left with an organisation with a reputation in tatters.
“your happy to see the credibility of a sport suffer so they can push the entertainment aspect”
It’s always been about entertainment – it’s a business. You haven’t a clue about business, you’re such a sherdogger.
You strive to entertain but you don’t do so to the sports detriment.
Guarantee you Conor Frankie would have gotten more buys than this pointless rematch.
People wanted to see that fight badly, the consensus on this rematch seems to be unanimously wtf…it would have sold as much if not more so and it’s the right thing for the sport and the division, so your whole it’s for business argument is total crap. They would make the same cash either way.
You have a very combative/abusive debating style, you’re the only one exhibiting shertard tendencies here
Hopefully same result
You “hope” someone loses? But not out of support for his opponent. That’s pretty sad.
He never said he hopes a particular person loses….. Might be saying he hopes Diaz wins, ever think of that from inside McGregors ar$e?
All the haters conveniently forget that Conor handily won the 1st round.
The haters? So what if he won the first round? It was the first of five, if he managed to survive the second he would have lost that so what’s your point? Nate Diaz isn’t a master of the octagon, never had been he just comes to fight and that’s what he did he went toe to toe with McGregor, proved that he could take a punch. McGregor on the other hand got caught cleanly and was like a deer in headlights. He ended up on the ground and once again (like with mendes) proved he has no ground game. I think your issue Matthew is you look at McGregor from the bar with a tricolour draped over your shoulders with a pint of McGregor endorsed Budweiser in your hand and say Diaz got a lucky punch, it was a fluke etc when in fact luck had nothing to do with it. Now let’s see what Diaz can do with a full camp…. Did you ever think of that?
I know he lost the fight Ian, you dope. It was no fluke – I never said it was.
My ONLY point here is that people go on about how McGregor got smashed by Diaz – when he won at least 5 of the 8 minutes they fought. Yes, McGregor f****d up & gassed – but he didn’t get “smashed” like most people imply. And he does have a ground game – he proved that in the first round. When he got choked he was completely gassed.
And I don’t go to bars, or drink, or drape flags. Sorry.
It’s no good blowing your load in the first round if you can’t keep pace after that, barring you knock him out.
McGregor did get smashed…. Diaz took his head clean off with that punch. Nobody (I don’t know who you talk to, must be those “wrestling” circles you mix with) is saying McGregor got dominated. McGregor lost himself the fight trying to show off. I will once again argue that he has no ground game watch the fight again. When he got to the ground in the first, he wasn’t confident, calm or collected, he scrambled and panicked. That is not the sign of someone who can do what the want on the ground.
If you go balls to the wall to such an extent you tire yourself out in one round, you damn well better have won that round or else somethin is really wrong
Matthew Mendes won 8 of the 9 mins he fought Conor but it doesn’t change the result.
Hi John, I like this fight with Diaz ,I agree Conor is a far more skillful fighter than Nate,I was shocked at his Cardio in the first fight.I thought he should have beating Nate ,but we all could see he was using to much energy trying to knock him out.
I am happy that Conor gets the rematch,plus Aldo vs Edgar and the winner fights Conor for the belt is how it should be.
Oh God. Not this sh*#e again.
For someone who’s allegedly not motivated by money or material things, he certainly talks about them a lot!
Major gameplan changes needed. In the past Nate has struggled against the smothering wrestler, not sure Conor has those skills. A stand up boxing/dirty boxing war is Nate’s type of fight, tough to see where Conor wins. Also, Conor’s camp saying training is being adjusted to cater for Nate’s style? That a first?
The armchair critics are laughable. McG going up in wright in 10 days to get 170 obviously told against his cardio. More time to ease into the weight under the superb guidance of John Kavanagh will lead to a different result next time out.
Mcgregors jaw was what beat him not his cardio
That hands down on exits and his movement failed him once he was a bit fatigued. Even before he was fatigued Nate tagged him quite a bit with his jab at range, and when Nate plants his lead and hits that 1+2 combo it deff has some crack behind it. I dont know much im not an MMA coach just a long time fan but seems to me Conors hands are only used to parry and rarely for blocking or protection. All that movement and range control works great for 4-5 mins against most opponents but someone with Nates range and boxing skills its not enough.
How could McGregor not have the cardio with all the preparation time he had to prepare? He bulked up too much weight too quickly and didn’t take carrying the extra weight into account when he started throwing bombs in the first round. It was actually a surprisingly amateurish mistake to make.
I don’t see Conor winning the rematch either. Yes, he’s technically a better boxer. But he loses his height and reach advantage against Diaz and you could tell this demoralized him. The reach advantage in punches and kicks is crucial to him against smaller fighters yet it doesn’t exist against Diaz.
Diaz is an old fashioned street scrapper, a tough Mexican willing to take an almighty beating and still throw back punches. McGregor hasn’t got the same capacity to take pain, as he proved in the first fight. Once he started to feel the pain he gave up.
I don’t remember Nate saying that a full camp wouldn’t make a difference. He actually said that due to the lack of camp and sparring he got hit with shots that he wouldn’t have been hit by if he had a camp. He also lied about training for a triathlon so he could get the fight. He was drinking tequila on a yacht when he got the call.
This was meant to be in reply to Aaron Buckley
I can’t be arsed to look for it but I remember him saying he fights better without the toil of a full camp. I know he has contradicted that elsewhere but there’s logic to it when you can consider the real truth. Namely that even though the Diaz bros are prone to the odd indulgence (weed etc) they are also always in condition and train every day. Check this:
http://www.foxsports.com/ufc/story/three-ways-nate-diaz-is-different-than-anyone-conor-mcgregor-has-ever-faced-before-030116
Yeah Nates statements on having a camp changed after the fight. Before the fight he said it didnt matter because he has had full camps and sucked and then had little to no camp for a fight and has done very well. Then after the fight he said he would have not been hit with a full camp lmao. He did spar up to the fight it is in the embedded videos. He got hit and was always going to get hit..a camp doesnt make you an illusion lol. And Nate at 30 and being long in the tooth for his age is far too set in his boxing ways to tailor any gameplan specifically to counter Conors style aside from going for a takedown or trip. Same for Conor really..he ate far too many punches from Nate, gotta whip that leg kick out there more ala RDA give Nate more to think about than the left. And Conor gotta get them gloves up to defend the chin.
I’m concerned regarding weigh in. Nate will be cutting Conor won’t be. Come fight Nate will have added 10/15lbs, that’s a big weight advantage..
The fight will be at 170, neither of them will be cutting any weight. Unless nate is a middleweight now.
The fight is at 155 pal
No 170
@The Dude-Weigh-ins and bout classification will be at 170 WW. No way on fight night Nate walks in at 170 lmao. The last fight Diaz was easily 183+ on fight night after rehydrating. Conor walks around at 170, Nate Diaz does not walk around at 170 anymore and hasnt for awhile. Nate will be heavier and longer. Thats why Diaz wanted a rematch at 155 to cut down to 155 and then by the time of rehydration they’d both be at 170 ish and no excuses could be made. Nates weight can range wildly from close to 200pds to 165pds depending on the fights weight classification. And Nate has only put on more muscle mass as of the last year or two and here is a quote from him in 2010 when he was pretty skinny and had not much muscle or mass.
“On his way back to trainer/manager Cesar Gracie’s gym Tuesday, Diaz said it would only take him a week to tip the scales at 190 pounds.”
Yeah that was 5 years ago but Nate Diaz is mass wise bigger now than he was back then so point being Nate even at a WW bout will rehydrate back up to likely 185+ on fight night in the 24 hrs after weigh ins. Conor walked in at near the same weight as he weighed in at. You can visually see the size difference in mass-frame- and height lol. These two guys are not the same size i dont care what they cut too and weigh in at.
Very good read looking good for book sales
I think if Conor can get a little bigger and cut to 170, he will be in better shape for the fight. All that running will improve his cardio and speed. I do think fighters need to make cut to be at their optimal level.
Yep, then rehydrate for extra weight..
Says the guy on his armchair…
“Win or learn”. Did Kavanagh coin that? If so he is a genius.
Most of us stay in the comfort zone. Conor seems to be obsessed with staying as far out of his comfort zone as possible. He’s either going to be the poster child for self-belief or the poster child for why self-belief only gets you so far, no in between
Conor better find someone with reach as long as Nate’s to train with. The reach advantage was the one new variable Conor faced in Nate and it may have been the critical factor contributing to Conor’s defeat.
Now John don’t be autographing any books before the fight. #FULLFOCUS
Can’t wait to see both fights on the night it will be interesting to see if Aldo can get over been ko’d so quickly!! But most of all to see both McGregor and Diaz’s strategy’s for the night.. Best of luck to Conor, yourself and all involved in preparing for the fight and I look forward to reading your autobiography and what its really took to be where you’se are today..