Yes, Nate Diaz and Conor McGregor put on quite a show last night (Sat., Aug. 20, 2016) during UFC 202's main event in Las Vegas, Nevada (full video highlights here). However, there were moments when "Notorious" simply needed a breather. In fact, the fiery Irishman turned his back on Diaz on multiple occasions and took a little jog around the cage to catch his breath. It was a big no-no in the eyes of Diaz, who says had it been like in the old PRIDE FC days, McGregor would've -- and should've -- gotten a yellow card and a point reduction for stalling and refusing to engage. Had he lost a point, Diaz told reporters afterward (via via UFC Youtube) that there would've been no way Conor would've won the fight, which he didn't do in the first place.
"I think I won three rounds to two and I didn't think that was even a question," Diaz said. "Obviously, I felt I could've done better and did some better things, but, It's all good, I got paid, you know what I'm saying? I don't think he did much. He did a lot of running in that fight. I've been saying, my brother's been saying for years, like in PRIDE, he should've got a yellow card for that type of thing, he ran the whole fight. You see me chasing him around that thing? I'm like, 'Where are you going?' He was scared to engage and I felt like they should've at least taken a point for that. And on top of me winning anyways, I think they should have taken a point because it wouldn't have let him win the fight. That's what I think of that situation."
Had John McCarthy instructed the ringside judges to take a point, this scorecard would've looked drastically different and the out would've been scored a majority draw. Nevertheless, Diaz' frown will turn upside down once he collects the biggest payout of his mixed martial arts (MMA) career to date. Plus, the loss likely earned him another big payday, as a trilogy fight against "Notorious" to break the tie will likely happen sometime down the road.
Not a bad couple of consolation prizes.
For complete results from UFC 202: "McGregor vs. Diaz 2," including play-by-play updates, click here and here.
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