UFC Fight Night 92 Results: 5 Burning Questions Heading into Diaz vs. McGregor 2
UFC Fight Night 92 is in the books. The results are as follows (via Bleacher Report's very own Craig Amos):
UFC Fight Night 92 Main Card on Fox Sports 1
- Yair Rodríguez def. Alex Caceres, split-decision (46-49, 48-47, 48-47)
- Dennis Bermudez def. Rony Jason, unanimous decision (30-27, 30-26, 30-27)
- Thales Leites def. Chris Camozzi, submission (Round 3, 2:58)
- Santiago Ponzinibbio def. Zak Cummings, unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
- Trevor Smith def. Joseph Gigliotti, unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-26)
- Maryna Moroz def. Danielle Taylor, split-decision (28-29, 29-28, 30-27)
Prelims on Fox Sports 1
- Court McGee def. Dominique Steele, unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
- Marcin Tybura def. Viktor Pesta, knockout (Round 2, 0:53)
- David Teymur def. Jason Novelli, TKO (Round 2, 1:25)
- Teruto Ishihara def. Horacio Gutierrez, TKO (Round 1, 2:32)
Prelims on UFC Fight Pass
- Cub Swanson def. Tatsuya Kawajiri, unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
- Justin Ledet def. Chase Sherman, unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Next up? UFC 202.
For this very special card, Bleacher Report has a very special treat. Rather than focusing on the entire card, stacked though it may be with names like Anthony Johnson, Cody Garbrandt, Neil Magny and Donald Cerrone, this installment of the Burning Questions will look solely at the multi-faceted main event, Nate Diaz vs. Conor McGregor 2.
So without any further ado, jump right on in, folks!
Will the Fight Actually Happen?
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This may seem silly, but think about it. When was the last time a Conor McGregor fight went down without a hitch?
UFC 200 against Nate Diaz? Scrapped due to a dispute with the UFC.
UFC 196 against Rafael dos Anjos? Didn't happen, which is how Diaz ended up in this equation in the first place.
UFC 194 against Jose Aldo? Well, Aldo vs. McGregor was supposed to happen at UFC 189. Instead, McGregor fought Chad Mendes.
And that's just since McGregor entered the title picture! It doesn't count for his early days in the UFC, when fights with Cole Miller and Andy Ogle fell apart.
Five of McGregor's eight UFC fights have seen some manner of replacement opponent or rescheduling take place. That makes it easy to wonder if something may come up and spoil the party yet again.
How Will Conor McGregor Approach This Fight?
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Conor McGregor losing to Nate Diaz at UFC 196 was a weird blend of both surprising and foreseeable. McGregor's slow, steady transformation from well-rounded mixed martial artist to pressure-focused headhunter was a popular topic long before his fight with Diaz. Seeing him get tuckered out by a fast-paced opening round and finished in the second was the perfect demonstration of his devolution as a striker.
That begs a very important question; how has McGregor reinvented himself since UFC 196?
Before the fast cars, fancy suits and terrible tattoos, McGregor was actually a range-focused counter-striker. His arsenal was diverse, his combinations were potent and his ability to halt an opponent's entry and slip back to range was a treat to watch. By UFC 196, all that was gone.
Against Diaz, McGregor pressed the action to the cage and threw left hand after left hand. Sometimes, it was an uppercut. Most of the time, it was an overhand. His punches landed, as Diaz was left bruised and bloodied, but the exchanges were high-effort, high-risk and low-reward.
That approach just won't cut it. The best way for McGregor to beat Diaz is to take the offensive opportunities afforded to him. Attack with kicks from range and make the most of time in the clinch. Looking to knock out one of the sturdiest fighters in MMA, quite simply, isn't smart.
Diaz isn't an unbeatable fighter by any measurement, and McGregor has the tools to take the win. It's only a matter of if he can use them properly.
Can Nate Diaz Force Things to the Ground?
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Standing, Diaz vs. McGregor 2 is an incredibly competitive matchup. McGregor is faster and has a more diverse arsenal, but Diaz is longer, stronger and has a cement chin.
On the mat, however, Diaz is king. While McGregor's naysayers are quick to say that McGregor's loss was due to a lack of grappling savvy, the reality is that Diaz is one of the best submission artists in today's UFC. He can force a tap out of nearly anyone.
Diaz can hang with McGregor at range, yes, but there's no question that the best, most efficient way for him to take another win would be scoring a takedown and hunting for a submission. With that in mind...can Diaz get things to the ground?
It's worth remembering that the fight-ending rear-naked choke at UFC 196 came after a solid 90 seconds of punishment from Diaz and a poor takedown attempt from McGregor. It's also worth remembering that Diaz's one completed takedown during the fight was immediately reversed by a crafty McGregor sweep.
While Diaz can take care of business on the ground, he's never been especially great about forcing fights there, with just 16 takedowns in his entire UFC career (with five of those coming in his 2008 fight with Josh Neer)*. Will that change at UFC 202? Or will he be content to keep things standing?
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Is Conor McGregor Really Going to Drop Back Down to 145 Pounds After This Fight?
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The photo above shows Conor McGregor at 145 pounds. His face is shrunken in, making his cheekbones and brow protrude. The individual muscle groups of his shoulder can be seen plainly. His abdomen seems to be collapsing into itself.
To say McGregor was killing himself to make 145 pounds probably isn't too much of a stretch. If Dana White is to be believed, though, he is going to do that again after UFC 202. Needless to say, that feels unrealistic on multiple levels.
Win or lose, McGregor has bulked up quite a bit over the last seven months since that photo was taken. Given how clearly, undeniably brutal his cut already was, it may take months of preparation (and shedding muscle) to get back in range to go for a cut to 145.
On top of that, McGregor, more than anything else, is seeking out "money" fights. While hardcore fans would most certainly enjoy seeing McGregor rematch Jose Aldo, is that really the "money" fight for McGregor? Moreso than a lightweight title fight, like what was supposed to happen at UFC 196? Or, if McGregor wins at UFC 202, moreso than a McGregor vs. Diaz 3?
The UFC playbook is already in the trashcan when it comes to McGregor, and company brass haven't been a part of his decision-making since 2014. He'll go back down to 145 pounds when he feels like it...but when will that be? And will it actually come immediately after UFC 202? That doesn't feel plausible.
What Happens If Nate Diaz Wins?
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When the Nate Diaz biography is eventually written, the greatest antagonist therein will be Dana White and the UFC brass.
Publicly, White and co. have undercut him at every opportunity, with the biggest examples being the infamous "needle mover" comments, calling his then-manager a "scumbag" (NSFW language therein) and suggesting he should retire in 2014. Privately, Diaz hinted that he was forced into fighting injured due to a tough financial situation after a contract dispute.
More importantly, Diaz has been disgustingly, terribly, sinfully underpaid throughout his UFC career. For the sake of comparison, Diaz earned a measly $16,000 for his co-main event fight on a UFC on Fox card opposite future champion Rafael dos Anjos. Sage Northcutt made $80,000 for his win over Cody Pfister.
Northcutt made five times more money in a throwaway fight on Fight Pass than Diaz did for a co-main event fight on a major card against dos Anjos. If that raises anyone's blood pressure, just imagine how Diaz felt.
Even after receiving the first decent payday of his career at UFC 196, Stockton's favorite son hasn't forgotten those first eight years with the UFC. He still views his relationship with the company as adversarial, and one more big check isn't going to fix that.
With his star at an all-time high at this point and his celebrity potentially set to jump even further at UFC 202, Diaz is already making it clear that he will pull no punches at the next pow-wow with UFC brass. "I feel like these guys want to weed me right back out, hoping that I lose," Diaz said in an interview on UFC Fight Pass (via MMAFighting.com). "Alright, they'd better hope I lose because if I win this one, I'm really taking over."
What would a Diaz takeover entail? That's anyone's guess. It's hard not to be excited by the idea, though...
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