It is clearly the fight that the fans want to see, McGregor vs. Diaz, the two best trash talkers in the business. McGregor is going into the fight with a huge advantage, due to him being in a training camp preparing to fight for the last eight weeks. Predictions of UFC 196 had Mcgregor winning against his original opponent. And the same is for this fight. Primarily because Diaz has less than a couple of weeks to get ready to fight one of the most unpredictable fighters in the game. With McGregor not having to lose any weight for the fight, he will have more energy than ever before.
Due to McGregor having had a full training camp, my money’s been put on him to win. Diaz is an entirely different type of beast to what he has faced before and if it goes to the ground has a high chance of causing an upset.
One aspect of Diaz’s game which may be obvious is that Diaz is an incredible athlete though and stays in shape all year round. He is an amazing triathlete and competes on a regular basis with his older brother Nick Diaz. If the fight goes five rounds, both fighters should be able to last the distance. However with the short time available to prepare for McGregor’s unpredictable style, he is going to have to be at the top of his game to win.
Diaz’s also often implements in competition his mental mastery. Conor Mcgregor is also seen as someone who uses the mental game to his advantage. Mcgregor has in the past fought several opponents which are calm and calculating and do not use the mental aspect of the game to the extent that Diaz does. If Diaz can use this mental game “skill” and disrupt Mcgregor’s flow he could dismantle the Irishman’s timing and turn this into a fight reminiscent of Diaz’s last bout with Michael Johnson.
And a last key feature about Diaz that might prove to be problematic will be that Diaz is pretty big. When competing at lightweight Diaz looked huge against his opponents. And even at welterweight he posses the height and reach to give him an edge on most opponents. Even though Mcgregor himself is know to being bigger in the octagon than his opponents he will not be bigger than Diaz in this fight and will give up a couple inches in the reach department.
Many experts have made their predictions and most UFC picks have predicted McGregor to win inside of three rounds. The Irishman himself has stated that he will knock out Diaz in the first round. So far all the “Notorious” one’s UFC fight predictions have come true, which makes it hard to bet against him.
It is going to be a very fun watching the build up to the fight McGregor is an expert at getting in fighters heads and destabilizing them. Diaz has been around the block, though, and he will certainly be handing out as much trash talk as he receives.
In McGregor’s last fight against the ex-pound for pound king, Aldo, the battle was won even before they entered the octagon. It is unlikely the same thing will happen to Diaz as he loves to brawl. Whenever he enters the ring, he fights to kill or be killed.
One of the fascinating aspects of the fight is that McGregor is moving from 145lb to 170lb for this battle. He was originally planned to fight for the 155lb belt at UFC 196 but has moved up even further in weight to make sure it takes place. It will be interesting to see what a difference it makes with him fighting at this weight. In the 145lb, he was able to knock out opponents with one punch. The question will be can he do it at 170lb. Diaz has shown can take a punch so it will be a real test for the Irishman. Most UFC picks are putting money on a KO by McGregor in the first round.
There are many UFC fight predictions for this battle and if McGregor’s comes true once again, he soon be known as the pound for pound champion of the world.
