I stormed in and put it all on the line. I took a shot and missed.
I will never apologize for taking a shot.
Shit happens. Conor McGregor
By now you have probably thought to yourself that you have read every possible angle on the McGregor loss. The Notorious ones defeat on Saturday night has been analysed more times then the Zapurder film.
It seems that most either believe that McGregor is an arrogant, loud mouth who got what was coming to him or you think the jump up in weight was too much for him and that anyone who is Irish and revels in his defeat is unpatriotic. There is no middle ground and given the word we live in, with short attention spans and everyone with a social media account or website looking for those all important retweets and clicks the boring middle ground really has no place in this discussion. Until now.
There is a fine line between arrogance and self confidence and perhaps in McGregor’s world that line does not exist. However, I am of the opinion that the Featherweight champion, fully believed that his fighting skills, most notably his striking power would transaltion in any weight class.
They didn’t and as McGregor admitted afterwards this caused him to go into panic mode.When you literally hit someone with your best shot and they are still standing and coming at you this is only a natural reaction to have.
That would suggest to me that McGregor did not have a plan B. The reason I say that is because both McGregor and his coach, John Kavanagh have since spoken about how Conor was “Inefficient with his energy”. What they are talking about there is that McGregor started to put more energy behind every punch he threw at Diaz. Like going from trying to break a rock with a hammer to starting to swing a sledgehammer at it. Diaz was able to use his reach advantage and experience to avoid these shots. McGregor admitted afterwards that on a number of occasions Diaz’s chin was tantalising out of reach.
People have said afterwards that McGregor underestimated Diaz as a fighter. I am not so sure, I think he just underestimated Diaz’s ability to take his punches, such was the unwavering belief in his punching power.
The panic threw McGregor off his game as panic does with most people, he fixated on going for the kill shot on Diaz and in the process abandoned his own footwork and defensive movement allowing the Stockton native to stun him with a shot to the chin and soon after tap McGregor out.
While all of the above may have been the cause of McGregor’s lack of energy in the second you also have to point out that his own cockiness may have caused his downfall also. The Self Proclaimed “Mystic Mac” appeared on the Conan O’Brien show days before the fight and demonstrated a capoeira kick.
A fighting techinique he was going “to ping across Diaz’s head” McGregor went for this kick numerous times throughout the first round to no gain. There is no doubt arrogance was the reason he persisted in trying it when once would have been enough.
It is that arrogance which has caused media commentators, fellow fighters and the general public to celebrate his loss. I am certainly in the minority in what I am about to say but, I truly believe there is a difference in the persona of “The Notorious” Conor McGregor and Conor McGregor the person.
“The Notorious” Conor McGregor is the brash fighter who talks trash, produces unbelievable soundbites and is such an interesting and polorasing personality that people on both sides of the McGregor fence are interested in what he does. That is the side of McGregor, the business side that means that his fight with Diaz, put together 11 days before the event was the biggest in UFC history according to Dana White.
That Persona is the reason UFC fighters as observed by John Kavanagh, have all started to wear suits and emulate Conor. That persona is why fighters from all weight classes took to social media to call him out. McGregor is still the money fight and if you’re smart thats the fight everyone wants and his self made path to UFC stardom is one that will try and be emulated by others.
Then there is the person Conor McGregor, who came out in his post fight interviews and gave very thoughtful,humble responses to the questions asked of him. Many people would like to see more of a blending of the two and maybe we will.
The invincibility of “The Notorious” one is now gone. For the first time in his UFC career McGregor has shown some cracks. The Diaz fight exposed holes in his game to future opponents. If they can stand the heat of his punches they have a chance of being successful.
They say the second album or movie sequel is always the true test. We are now in that stage with McGregor will be interesting to see how and if he evolves as a fighter. As John Kavanagh said “Win or Learn”
