McGregor connects often. It's kind of silly to think he wouldn't had connected again on Aldo.
You make some valid points about his lack of ground game but you seem a little unrealistic with your overall assessment of McGregor. The guy was owning Diaz. But Diaz was bigger and Conor couldn't put him down.
Was a great fight. Diaz is cool Shiz.
I honestly don't think he was ever owning Diaz. Sure he had some really nice connections with the left hand, but once Diaz absorbed 4 or 5 of them and kept going, it would have really rattled McGregor's mental strength.
Diaz has a reputation for having an iron chin and stamina to fight 10 rounds if needed.
Diaz has a history of taking an absolute beating and just gritting it out and taking it to decision or submission.
Diaz' plan all along was to try and dodge the left hand, get McGregor tired and then use the jab to tire him out and eventually take it to the ground. And we all knew before this fight that McGregor's ground game is pretty rookie- it's what made this fight so interesting and I honestly was shocked when I saw that Dana White had lined up Diaz, when McGregor could have fought Pettis and particularly Cerrone for more of a stand up duel.
I actually picked both winners tonight which was nice after McGregor owned Aldo in 10 seconds.
Diaz just had to survive the first round and Connor moving up so much weight meant he'd be gassed pretty quickly- especially when he wants to KO Diaz.
I also think Diaz got in Connor's head a little bit a few days ago when he said to Connor on a Fox interview ' You better hope you get that KO in the first round, you better hope'. It really seemed to shake Connor and agitate him and Nate acted liked he knew if he could survive the first round barrage of Connor's left hand, then he'd have an excellent chance of submitting Connor.
Connor's chin is pretty suspect too after this. Diaz isn't the best puncher and yeah Connor was gassed, but he basically gave up after 3 straight lefts from Diaz.
Diaz must have taken 10 or 12 left hands and uppercuts and it barely phased him.
I said it when they first announced it, but Dos Anjos will kill McGregor. He'll kill Diaz again too.
I think McGregor will kill everyone back down at 155, although Aldo seeing this will give him some mental confidence.
Connor's left hand is just so beautiful and I dunno how many guys at 155 can take a hit from hit cleanly and survive.