Conor McGregor Risked It All For Money At UFC 196, But It Might Not Matter
Now that the dust has finally settled on last weekend’s (Sat., March 5, 2016) insane UFC 196 from Las Vegas, the world’s foremost mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion can begin to pick up the shattered pieces of a landscape that seemingly changes dramatically with the passing of each and every blockbuster card.
Obviously the vast majority of the fallout is directed at UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor’s first UFC loss to Nate Diaz in the main event. The pivotal, hyped bout has been dissected, re-dissected, and examined under a million microscopes, so there’s no need to go into meticulous detail about what transpired in the wild affair.
Basically the quick summary of the fight was that after winning the first round and arguably the first portion of the second with several powerful punches, McGregor faded and was tagged by a vicious one-two combo from Diaz, who swarmed on a rocked ‘Notorious’ prior to absolutely demolishing him on the mat with a brutal rear-naked choke.
It was a devastating, bloody, and overall descriptive loss for the exploding fame and personality that is Conor McGregor, and indeed it will harm his UFC career path in more ways than one. But at the end of the day he deserves respect for being a true fighter who took a fight up two classes for the risk of a huge payday, which he said would be a massive $10 million when it was all said and done.
The outspoken Irishman has taken a hit to his perhaps overblown aura of invincibility, yet he took the loss like a true champion and is still that in the 145-pound division. With that said, there are some key reasons why the loss may or may not hurt his overall scope. Let’s take a look at both sides of the discussion.