Conor - Nate II Lives Up to Hype

By Muk

What a fight that was folks. That was a 5-round brawl, and has to be one of the best fights I have ever seen or seen in recent memory. Conor came out of the gate with a perfect gameplan, to target that front lead leg of Nate, which he loved to put so much pressure on. He tried to chop Diaz down and then pummel him with his strikes. Conor landed several big lefts in the first and second, along with brutalizing Nate’s leg, that led to 3 knockdowns. Nate rallied at the end of the second, and Conor seemed gassed, again, and the momentum was back on Nate’s side going into the 3rd. Nate dominated the 3rd, controlling Conor in the clinch, and looked to be in position to take over. Conor looked absolutely exhausted and that he could go down at any point in time, after what was probably the longest round of his entire life. But Conor came out in the 4th firing, and took back his momentum in his first ever championship round. Nate then came out in the 5th and took momentum back onto his side as he out struck Conor and dominated the clinch. The fight went to decision and Conor won by majority, and I have to say that I agree with the decision. People will bring up the stats saying Nate had more strikes, but significant strikes, Nate only scored 17 more, and those are the true point scorers. Nate’s slaps and powerless punches in the clinch just tallied up his total strikes, but did little to affect Conor. Nate took Conor down at the end of the 5th, but Conor stuffed the previous 4 attempts and did a great job of surviving the clinch/jiu-jitsu threats, with some of the best defense I have seen from him. On top of that, Conor still did have 3 knockdowns, which were crucial.
The fight may have ended in a bit of controversy, but to me both these men deserve all the praise in the world. The handled everything post fight so well and with so much respect and class, and both made it clear they want the trilogy, and 155 is the weight for it to happen. What's the next move from them both? Conor stays on the trilogy path? Or does he go back down to defend his 145 pound belt, or be stripped of it for not? There are so many questions that will need to be answered over the next week or two, but let's just enjoy every bit of the show and effort those two warriors gave us.