Breakdown: UFC 196
What more can be said of
Featherweight, Champion, Conor McGregor? His UFC career has been a fabulous
explosion of accurate striking and sharp tongued wit. Superlatives were
invented to describe people like McGregor, at 19-2 with seventeen of those wins
by way of KO/TKO, he is riding a fifteen fight win streak. It hasn’t seemed long
since “Notorious” made his UFC debut (4/6/13), halting Marcus Brimage’s night
by TKO in just 1:07, since he has gone 7-0 taking the interim FW belt from,
Chad Mendes in June of 2015 and then December 12th he KO’d the UFC’s
only FW Champ, Jose Aldo (awarded 11/2010) in just thirteen seconds to be the
undisputed FW Champion.
McGregor has
only been pushed to the final bell once in his twenty-one fight career, a
Unanimous Decision over Max Holloway (8/17/13) in Conor’s second UFC fight. In
fact, beside Holloway only two other UFC opponents have made out of the opening
round: Chad Mendes made it to 4:57 of the second round before referee, Herb
Dean rescued him from McGregor’s rage, Denis Siver saw 1:54 of the second round
(1/18/15) before “Notorious” put him away by TKO.
So what does
the Featherweight King decide to conquer next? Well he had his heart set on challenging
for the UFC’s Lightweight belt at UFC 196, but Champ, Raphael dos Anjos was
forced to pull out of the bout, just two weeks before, due to a broken foot.
Enter Nate Diaz, the thirty year old, Cesar Gracie Black Belt couldn’t wait to
ink the deal. Short notice for Diaz has forced the bout to be fought, two
weight classes up for McGregor, at Welterweight. Diaz has competed at WW and is
2-2.
Facing the
taller Diaz, McGregor finds himself in unfamiliar territory, usually enjoying a
reach advantage, Diaz has two inches on him there, he will be looking up at the
six foot tall Diaz. Conor has a two inch advantage in leg reach, an unusual
category which may actually play a role in the fight. McGregor throws many
kicks and Diaz has been vulnerable to kicks in the past, leg kicks especially.
In Diaz’s ten losses only a single has come by KO/TKO, a Josh Thompson head-kick
in the second round (3:44) 4/20/13.
Nate Diaz is
the number five ranked LW in the UFC and won season five of The Ultimate Fighter. In his twenty-one
UFC fights he has gone 13-8 with ten finishes (8 subs, 2 TKO). He has been
awarded twelve post fight bonuses: 6 Fight
of the Night, 5 Submission of the Night and 1 Knock Out of the Night. Diaz
is just 3-8 in fights that go to decision, couple that with Conor’s lone decision
win and we have a pair of fighters looking to finish.
Bantamweight Belt on
the Line in Co-Main
Hard to believe that in only Holly
Holm’s fourth UFC fight she is defending the Women BW Championship. “The
Preacher’s Daughter” is 10-0 with seven wins by KO/TKO. Last time out she KO’d
the most dominant champion in UFC history, Ronda Rousey, by second round
head-kick (0:59) 11/14/15 to win the belt. Prior to MMA, the Albuquerque native
collected multiple Pro Boxing world titles, compiling an impressive 33-2-3
record, including nine KO’s and a Kickboxing record of 2-1 (all KO’s). She was
the back to back Ring Magazine Female
Fighter of the Year in 05-06. The jab favoring, champion will enjoy a four
inch reach advantage when she faces #2 ranked Meisha Tate.
The
twenty-nine year old, Tate is 8-1 in fights that go the distance, she’s coming
off her fourth straight win by decision, three of those ranked in the division’s
top ten. Her latest was a three round UD over #7 Jessica Eye 7/25/15. “Cupcake”
is an accomplished grappler, winning six career fights by submission. The
former Strikeforce Champion has a background in wrestling and presents a well-balanced
skill set for Holm to deal with.
Check out my Breakdown of the remainder of the PPV card here:
UFC 196 is Saturday March 5th 2016 in Las Vegas
Nevada
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