Conor McGregor explains why he was 'happy' about his loss to Nate Diaz
UFC superstar Conor McGregor suffered his first UFC loss at UFC 196 against veteran lightweight Nate Diaz, and afterwards, appeared to be incredibly humbled by the reality of his situation.
McGregor acknowledged that Diaz was the better man that night, and in an interview with Nick Wright on The Herd just days before their rematch at UFC 202, “Notorious” admitted that the shocking loss was actually good for him.
“The fight game is a crazy game. It’s up and down. Wins and losses happen in the game of true fighting, it comes with the territory,” McGregor said. “It’s one of the reasons why it had a $4 billion price tag, because it’s the most exciting sport out there. One minute a guy is dominating a fight and the next minute he’s not dominating. It’s a crazy game.
“If I had fought dos Anjos that night, I would be a two-weight world champion -- no doubt about it. The shots that I cracked Nate with in that first fight would have sunk dos Anjos no problem. But I am happy the way it happened. It forced me to analyze where I was going. The lack of structure in my preparation and my focus. It forced me to come back a couple of steps and correct things that I feel have gone off the tracks. So I am happy with it. Everything happens for a reason. But my life has not changed. My life is still good. I’m still living damn good, know that. So, I’m happy it happened. It is what it is.”
In the lead-up to UFC 196, a bout that originally slated to be a lightweight title fight against Rafael dos Anjos, McGregor was seen using unorthodox training methods to prepare for the fight while also hanging out in Venice Beach until a week or two before the fight. Diaz even chided the Irishman about his methodology, claiming he was too busy “playing touch butt in the park” instead of doing real training.
For the fight at UFC 202, however, McGregor has been stationed in Vegas for the last seven weeks or so and has reportedly spent $300,000 to bring in the best training partners and host his best camp so far in his career.
We’ll see Saturday how much that investment has paid off, but it’s definitely a move in the right direction considering the lessons McGregor learned after not getting his hand raised for the first time in his UFC career.
