“Nothing surprised me, except that I got hit at all. I think with a full camp I would’ve been flawless, but it’s whatever. He punches hard. He’s a hard hitting little guy, but nothing I never felt before. I sparred full camps with top 10 boxers, forever. Omar Henry, Andre Ward when he fought Chad Dawson. I’ve been hit by everything. I’ve sparred with heavyweight fighters. If you ain’t taking me out, you going to get taken out, straight up. I knew I was the superior boxer. The superior martial artist. Superior jiu jitsu. As I said from the beginning, I have the best training partners in every aspect. Boxing, kickboxing, jiu jitsu, and MMA.”
-Nate Diaz talks about the Conor McGregor fight during the UFC 196 post-fight press conference (transcribed by BloodyElbow.com).
Penick’s Analysis: McGregor connected on a ton of strikes in that fight on Saturday, but Diaz said from the outset that he felt his training partners were superb and had him more than capable of taking McGregor’s offense. He did just that, and once he finally got his strikes to hit their mark, he took advantage from there. The switch in the final half of that second round came fast after the double 1-2 combinations from Diaz, and though he took a beating before getting there he proved himself right in the end.
[Photo (c) Mark J. Rebilas via USA Today Sports]
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