Despite Conor McGregor vs Nate Diaz 2 taking place less than two years ago, it hasn’t stopped the bout being voted as the greatest UFC fight of all time.
The epic in the Octagon took place on August 20 2016 as part of UFC 202 in the wake of a shock defeat for McGregor in UFC 196 when Diaz took the Notorious out with a rear-naked chokehold in the second round.
But McGregor came back at 202 with a vengeance.
The fight was a bloody one. As soon as it all began McGregor went straight at it and bust up the face of Diaz pretty badly, knocking him to the canvas numerous times.
However instead of taking the fight to the ground, McGregor forced Diaz to get back to his feet, a place where the Irishman felt more comfortable.
Despite absorbing every shot McGregor could throw, Diaz only really turned it on towards the end of the second round – but by then, it may have been too late.
The UFC 202 war came to a dramatic close as Diaz finally pinned McGregor to the floor and began to open up with a tirade of punches to the unguarded face of McGregor but just seconds before Diaz had chance to win, the bell rang.
Instead of walking off to his team, or cheering to his fans, Diaz helped McGregor back to his feet and the two embraced one another in a sweaty and bloody hug.
Perhaps I’m being romantically exaggerative here but to me the pair resembled two rival warriors, gladiators or so, who – at the end of the day – utterly respect one another’s efforts and strength.
In the immediate aftermath of the embrace, McGregor was crowned ‘King’ after winning by a majority decision of 48-47.
And now – the battle has reached new heights after the UFC crowned it the greatest fight of all time following a public vote. Who said democracy was dead?
In his next fight, McGregor took on Eddie Alvarez in a lightweight bout where he truly obliterated the American.
Then McGregor did something truly unheard of. He fought one of the greatest boxers in world history despite never having fought professionally in a boxing ring before.
Although Floyd Mayweather utterly outclassed McGregor in the ring, the fact the Irishman fought him at all certainly says a lot about how mad the Notorious is.
Now there’s talk of Mayweather fighting McGregor again – but this time in the Octagon, after it was revealed Mayweather had applied for his professional license to fight in MMA.
Last month Mayweather said:
Everything takes time. Eventually, we’re gonna apply for the license, and hopefully we can fight. Even if it takes 6 to 8 months – whatever it takes.
We want to make sure that everything is done correctly, and everything is done the right way.
At the end of last year it was revealed that Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather was in talks with the UFC for a huge fight in the Octagon.
Without doubt it would be a spectacle but it doesn’t take a genius to see that both fights would merely be a money making ploy.
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