Mcgregor And Diaz Wage War For 25 Minutes At UFC 202, Rumble Wins In 13 Seconds
Photo by Jairo Pardo
The main event 5-round battle for the highly anticipated UFC 202 headliner lived up to every bit of the hype thanks to its great pace and fan-pleasing style for 25 minutes of action.
Nate Diaz (20-11) collided with rival and UFC 145lbs champion, Conor ‘The Notorious’ McGregor (20-3) after feuding over the Internet and media for 5 months. In the start McGregor and Nate traded big shots at close range, never shying away from a toe to toe battle. This backfired on Diaz as he was sent to the canvas via a clean Conor counter left hook with about 3 minutes left in Round 1. The left hand shot landed on the side of Diaz’ face taking away his balance. Even though Diaz was clearly stunned McGregor wanted to prove a point by walking away from his rival, then while Nate was on the floor McGregor turned his back to him and allowed him to get up by waiving his hand at him to do so. After that both men continued picking each other apart via crisp shots and combinations even though Conor had a slight edge in accuracy.
In Round 2 McGregor sent Diaz to the canvas twice with similar left hand counters. Both times he allowed him to get up waiving him on, drawing a massive roar from the pro-Irish crowd. The big sign of disrespect was now a full-blown taunt since the featherweight champion wanted to show his dominance. Diaz got up and was not discouraged but Nate’s right eye started to bleed like it did in their first encounter. McGregor kept cool and collect in his southpaw stance as he landed clean left hand shots via left hooks and over hand rights or a stiff jab. With about 3 minutes left he loaded up and stepped in with a hard lead left hook to the body which temporarily stopped the Californian in his tracks. With about a minute left Diaz rallied back by going forward almost recklessly behind a mix of angles and volume punching, a Diaz strategy that only those two men can execute with such brilliance. This paid dividends as he was able to hurt McGregor in the last 50 seconds of the match causing an unbelievable shift in momentum. The Stockton native pressed his opponent along the cage wall tattooing him with some dirty boxing and vicious knees to the body. A McGregor Round 2 but Diaz showed that he is a very game and dangerous opponent that must be respected and never underestimated.
Going into Round 3 Diaz was able to close the distance by pressuring and using that classic Diaz Brothers volume punching against his Irish opponent. He pressed him along the cage wall via clinch to catch a bit of a rest and land some short elbows and punches while they wrestle along the cage for postion switching underhooks. But, McGregor circled out and started to again land clean combinations to the head and body of his foe. With a little under 3 minutes left McGregor landed a spinning back kick which Diaz partiually ate and used to turn him and mash him along the cage wall and apply his masterful dirty boxing. Diaz stuck to McGregor like glue and mixed up his shots behind kicks and over hand rights. In the last 30 seconds he landed multiple combos that seemed to never end forcing Conor along the cage in retreat giving Nate total command of the round.
Going into Round 4 Nate Diaz looked visibly worn specially from all the bleeding on both sides of his face. McGregor had opened him up on both sides but Nate wiped away the bloody mask for a second then marched forward in the trenches. It was also now clear that McGregor was struggling a bit to keep his guard up for the first few minutes. Maybe it was further proof that this is not his weight or that Nate landed very well but what could not be ignored was the fact that McGregor hurt his shin badly in the prior round when Nate checked one of his kicks. Both men traded a few clean blows along the Octagon center before Diaz pressed his opponent along the cage wall mizing up his hooks and looping punches. Diaz to no one’s surprise kept landing that great volume boxing again for a solid minute before McGregor turned him using some underhooks. The match was close and the final 5 minutes would surely tell us who the victor was.
Heading into the 5th and final round, both men’s faces were a bloody mess and they were visibly tired form an emotional as well as physically taxing championship-caliber MMA bout that delivered action, drama and excitement. After trading some more punches in the center of the Octagon, Diaz pressed forward for a takedown which McGregor stuffed once his foe changed levels. They separated but only temporarily then came in to trade leather at close range once the Stockon Kid used the clinch to box on the inside and then with about 90 second left go for another take down. Again McGregor defended and kept the fight standing and with 40 seconds left hit a take down of his own on Diaz along the cage wall. He wasn’t able to keep the Gracie Jiujitsu black belt there for more than a few seconds and in the final 10 seconds behind a body lock Diaz spun his man around and took him to the mat, but it was too little too late as the classic match came to an end.
Nate Diaz was up first rising from his foe’s guard but bent down to help Conor McGregor up in a sign of respect, then the two embraced congratulating one another in what will be one of the best fights of 2016 hands down. The official card had it a majority decision for McGregor with scores of 48-47, 47-47 and 48-47. A trilogy was agreed to by both in the post-fight press conference and also at the lower weight of 155-pounds.
JOHNSON CONTINUES TO RUMBLE THROUGH THE DIVISION
Photo by Jairo Pardo
In the co-main event of UFC 202, #1 ranked Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson (22-5) took on #2 ranked Glover Teixeira (25-5) in a battle of light heavyweight future title contenders. Inexplicably, the Brazilian striker forced himself into the pocket by coming forward with a lazy jab and a 2-punch combination but completely opted to not use any angles or upper body movement nor did he respect the hand speed of Johnson. As soon as the Blackzilians representative blocked the punches of his foe, he countered with a right hook-uppercut that landed flush on the chin of Teixeira. That massive blow dropped him to the canvas like a bag of hammers and Johnson pounced with two hammer fists as the referee stepped in to call a halt to the bout.
The official time of the stoppage was (0:13) of Round 1, granting Anthony Johnson a big win and a shot at the UFC 205lbs title. Cage side was reigning champion, Daniel Cormier, who applauded his future foe’s performance. Johnson paid respect to the champions of the division but warned that he was coming for him. A rematch between Cormier and Johnson from their UFC 187 meeting last May will be a fantastic rematch.
CERRONE FINISHES STORY FOR THIRD WELTERWEIGHT WIN
An interesting welterweight scrap featured household names in Rick ‘Horror’ Story (19-9) and Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone (31-7, 1 NC). Surpsingly enough, Cerrone turned the tables on his wrestle-heavy foe by taking him down off of a greatly timed take down 30 seconds into the match totally changing the assumed approach that most analysts thought that he would take. Story managed to get up and returned the favor getting Cerrone down with less than 3 minutes into the round. Off of his back ‘Cowboy’ threatened with a triangle choke submission to which Story powered out of then kept control for a moment of his foe via body lock as he rode his back looking to keep him controlled but not doing so for more than a few seconds. Once the JacksonWink representative managed to get to his feet, he then slipped out creating some distance between them. The two powerful 170-pound warriors took turns landing low leg kicks, round houses and a couple punch combinations to close out the 1st Round.
Going into Round 2 Story was a little more flat footed and Cerrone got to let his hands go more. ‘Cowboy’ had landed a quick front kick to his foe’s body so that may have slowed the Washington native down. Off of that, Cerrone would land first and asserted himself more by mixing up his boxing with leg kicks and knees to Story’s body for the first few minutes. Story had never been in there with such a fast-handed former Muay Thai specialist and it showed, he was falling for anything Cerrone threw. The perfect combination followed as the New Mexico resident threw a beautiful combination: step in body shot-left hook-head kick. Story never knew what hit him as he spun completely around ending up close to the cage wall with Cerrone landing a standing knee then some follow up punches as the referee came in to stop the action.
The official time was in sequence with the PPV number, (2:02) of Round 2 for the one-time UFC title contender. At the post-fight press conference Donald Cerrone was happy with his performance but adamant that he would not leave Las Vegas without securing another fight with UFC management before he left town.
PERRY STAYS UNBEATEN WITH STOPPAGE OF LIM IN ONE ROUND
‘Platinum’ Mike Perry (7-0) remains golden in his MMA career behind a 1st Round TKO stoppage in his UFC debut over ‘The Ace’ Hyun Gyu Lim (13-6-1). The South Korean fighter was known for is striking coming into the bout but he unfortunately telegraphed most of his attacks, what made matters even rougher was his wide open guard that left him very susceptible to counter strikes and the Florida native took full advantage of that. When the South Korean fighter opened up with a few straight rights or short hooks, Perry’s quick hands and sharp boxing in the cage enabled him to counter via powerful right hands and over hand punches. Once the fight went to the ground Perry showcased some great wrestling chops and a solid BJJ base locking up a crucifix on his foe about halfway into the round. From there he went to work on ‘The Ace’s’ face breaking him down with mean elbows and punches from top position. Amazingly, Lim turned back and forth and then hip escaped his way out of the hold and got back to his feet. But, Perry couldn’t miss and landed at will landing two power shots that dropped his man to the floor on each sequence. The second one was the one that sealed the deal as Lim threw a punch and got countered hard crashing on the canvas as the referee stepped in.
The official time of the stoppage came at (3:38) for Mike Perry who keeps a perfect record for his Octagon debut thanks to the 1st round TKO.
MEANS RETURNS TO GET TKO FINISH IN TWO ROUNDS
The opening bout of the evening featured 170lbs fighters Tim Means (26-7-1) and Sabah Homasi (11-6) in a modified hockey fight with MMA gloves. The two warriors kicked off the PPV portion of the event landing crisp combinations, standing knees, double hooks, over hand rights and front kicks at one another. During the first 5 minutes, ‘The Punisher’ Homasi was able to squeeze in one great takedown but Means fought off of his back with ease. The Oklahoma-born fighter landed some short elbows and strikes off of his guard before scooting his hips and fighting his way up. Means amongst all of the action and raucous landed straight right hands to his foe constantly opening up a real bad cut on the right eye of Homasi.
Going into the 2nd stanza Homasi’s face looked like it was half covered in war paint. He marched forward via heart and instinct but his punches were very wide and loopy and lacked any sort of game-changing power. On the other hand, ‘The Dirty Bird’ Means pecked at him with precision and clean connectivity hurting him more and more punch after punch. The referee stepped in to waive the match off as Means was in the middle of landing a wicked combination. The official time of the finish came at (2:56) of Round 2 for Tim Means who returns new and improved off of a 6 month absence.
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