'Heartbroken' Conor McGregor on loss to Nate Diaz at UFC 196: I went into panic mode

Conor McGregor suffered the first loss of his Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) career at UFC 196 after Nate Diaz forced him to tap thanks to an air-tight rear-naked choke in their headlining Welterweight fight in Las Vegas, Nevada.

See it again here.

After the fight, Conor was humble in defeat, choosing to give Nate his due an not offer up excuses. However, during the post-fight press-conference (see it here), Conor did say he thinks Nate's weight allowed him to absorb his best shots.

Plus, "Notorious" admits going into panic mode before tapping. His words via MMA Fighting:

"I feel I was simply inefficient with my energy. Usually, when I fight a man in the division I am champion in and they crumble under those shots. But Nate took them very well. I think the weight allowed him to take those shots well. I enjoyed the fact that a person could take the shots and keep coming. He kept his composure. He went into almost autopilot mode with the shots. His face was busted up. And I went into panic mode. It was just a shift of energy and he capitalized on it. I think with a bit of adjustment and a bit of recognition it must take more than one, more than two, more than three to put the heavier man away. I think if I go in with that mindset at a heavier weight I think I will do fine again."

The 170-pound showdown against Nate came to be after Conor's original foe, Rafael dos Anjos, bowed out of their Lightweight title fight with a broken foot.

While Conor deserves credit for staying on the card and moving up in weight, it won't do much for his heartbreak, as he stated the defeat is truly hard to swallow.

"It's a tough pill to swallow, but we can either run from adversity or we can face our adversity head on and conquer it. And that's what I plan to do. It wasn't ideal, I got caught. It is what it is. I'll face it. I'll take it on the chin. And I'll carry on. I'll learn from it. And that's it. I'm not cut. I'm simply heartbroken and that's it. I'll pick myself up and we'll figure it out in the morning. I will never shy away from a challenge.I will never shy away from defeat. This is part of the game. I am happy to come out there, continue and stay in this fight. I had many chances to not do this and sit and wait. But I went in, I took the fight and it didn't pay off. This is the fight business. It's another day. I'll come back."

Now, Conor will move back down to Featherweight to defend his title, possibly in the main event of UFC 200 on July 9, 2016 in "Sin City."

And if the stars align, it could be against Jose Aldo, the man he knocked out in 13 seconds at UFC 194 to become the division king.