This weekend sees UFC 196 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, and with it the return to the Octagon of the sometimes outspoken, but always entertaining Conor McGregor. Expect a sea of orange, white and green, and sparks to fly as he takes on the even more controversial Nate Diaz.
Irishman McGregor is one of those people that has now pretty much transcended the sport. Even people that know very little about MMA or the UFC still know who McGregor is.
His stock was already so high before his December 12th Featherweight Title unification bout against Brazilian Jose Aldo. Aldo had only lost once in a 26-fight career, and that was more than 10 years ago. Since he became the champion (first the WEC and then the UFC champion as the WEC was absorbed by the UFC) he had defended the belt 11 times, and was widely regarded as the number one pound-for-pound fighter in the world……McGregor knocked him out in 13 seconds!
That event (UFC 194) had a $10,100,000 gate, which broke the record for a mixed martial arts event in the United States, and the 1.2 million pay-per-view buyrate is the second highest in UFC history, behind only UFC 100. The final attendance for the event was 16,516, a record for Nevada, which had hosted 96 prior UFC events.
It marks a remarkable rise to fame for the 27 year old, who lost 2 of his first 6 professional fights back in Ireland, and in the early days split his time between training and working as a plumber in Lucan, Dublin having grown up in Crumlin. Since his last defeat in November 2010 he has impressively gone on to win 15 straight fights. However it’s not just that, it’s everything that surrounds him. His persona, his aura, his exuberance. He was talking like a champion long before he got the gold around his waist.
So the stage was set for the next chapter of his legacy – to take things to the next level – to do something that hadn’t been done before - hold two titles consecutively. He was supposed to go up a weight class and fight for the Lightweight Title against current holder Brazilian Rafael dos Anjos. However just 2 weeks before the bout dos Anjos broke his foot, and pulled out of the fight.
After a reported number of high profile and former champions turned down the opportunity to face the ‘Notorious One’ former Lightweight Title challenger Nate Diaz stepped up.
Fighting out of Stockton, California Diaz is almost somewhat of an enigma – he returned for a 12 month self imposed exile in December last year to beat Michael Johnson. He’s cocky, confident, brash, outspoken, and controversial – sound familiar.
He boasts an 18-10 fight record, which is decent, but not amazing, but you are always guaranteed entertainment with him. In his first 8 fights in the UFC going back to 2007 he won the Ultimate Fighter Tournament, earned 3 Submission of the Night awards, and 3 Fight of the Night awards.
He is a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, but loves to stand and trade blows, which will no doubt suit McGregor, as his 15-fight win streak aside from 1 decision win, and one submission win is made up of 13 knockouts, or technical knockouts, of which 10 have finished in the first round.
This fight is actually being fought at Welterweight, which is actually two divisions higher than what Conor holds a belt at, but as the Irishman said after defaeting Aldo... ‘Precision beats power, Timing beats speed’.
This isn’t just a 1 fight show mind you. There are still 11 other fights on the events card, with the Co-Main Event seeing the Women’s Bantamweight Title on the line as Holly Holm puts the belt she famously won defeating Ronda Rousey up against Miesha Tate.
UFC 196 is live on Sunday Morning at 3am on BT Sport, and for further information please head on over to the UFC’s website here.