Conor McGregor loses out to Nate Diaz at UFC 196

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The MGM grand garden arena in Las Vegas was once again the venue for the Irish MMA invasion in America last night as featherweight champion Conor McGregor took on Nathan Diaz in a 5-round welterweight attraction.

In round one McGregor looked comfortable as he opened up on the feet. A brief Diaz clinch was his first offensive move but McGregor defended well and got back out. As the round went on McGregor was landing more and more and had Diaz bloodied up at round’s end.

It was more of the same to begin the second as McGregor landed plenty of shots. But that soon changed. Midway through the round Diaz began to get some forward movement as McGregor seemed to tire. A couple of shots after that and McGregor shot for the legs but looked badly gassed. From there Diaz took his back, sunk in the choke and forced McGregor to tap.

For McGregor it was his first loss inside the UFC and leaves a lot of questions going forward for the man who still hold the UFC featherweight belt.

Elsewhere on the card, bantamweight champion Holly Holm defended her title for the first time since beating Ronda Rousey as she took on veteran Miesha Tate.

The first four rounds went to plan for Holm as she, apart from round 2, dominated the stand-up and was easily ahear. But in round five Tate made the comeback to end all comebacks and choked Holm to sleep with a beautiful rear naked choke. With the win, Tate joins Holm and Ronda Rousey as the only women to hold the UFC bantamweight belt.

Podcaster, lead MMA writer and analyst for SevereMMA. Host of the SevereMMA podcast, out every Sunday. Economics and Mathematics graduate from UCC. Also write for Sherdog. Previously of hov-mma and fightbooth. As heard on 2FM, Red FM, Today FM and more. Follow me on twitter for updates @SeanSheehanBA and on Facebook Facebook.com/seansheehanmma

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