Conor McGregor lacked the spirit needed to get through his tussle with Nate Diaz at UFC 196, according to former UFC star Jake Shields.
The Notorious tapped out in shock circumstances on Saturday night in his UFC welterweight debut. Shields claimed the superior fortitude showcased by the victor was central to his victory and is something which McGregor, for his talents, doesn't have.
“Nate has something Conor doesn’t; Nate has heart, you can’t teach that.” he told BT Sport. “Nate fought with his heart and came back and finished Conor.”
There’s absolutely no denying the heart of Diaz, who despite having taken the fight on such short notice, came through a difficult first round, reasserted himself and troubled the Notorious in the second. Eventually, he forced McGregor to give up his back and locked in a rear naked choke.
Here’s a reminder of the remarkable finish to the fight, which saw McGregor's run of wins in the UFC come to an abrupt end:
Plenty are happy to see Diaz secure this kind of momentous result too. He’s a competitor who has always captured the attention of fans when stepping inside the Octagon, giving it absolutely everything whether he wins or loses. So it’s no surprise Shields, a team-mate of his, is so thrilled for his colleague.
“He [Diaz] has more experience,” suggested Shields. “Nate was smart, he lost that first round but I think he did it on purpose…he was pacing himself, he was trying to let Conor punch himself out a little bit and then he started to put the pressure on. Nate has the experience to know he can do something like that.”
While McGregor may not have that kind of know-how in his first fight at welterweight, a lack of heart is not really an accusation which has been levelled at the Irishman too often.
However, given how quickly the Irishman tapped out, there have been question marks about his spirit. In the fight beforehand, Holly Holm was choked unconscious by Miesha Tate as she sought to cling to her bantamweight title, but McGregor tapped much sooner.
Ken Early of the Irish Times made the comparison between the two fighters and cited a previous quote from McGregor on the topic of submitting:
Still, McGregor showed heart in a lot of ways in the build-up to this fight. Indeed, making the jump to 170 pounds was a huge gamble and one taken in order to give fans a bout befitting of a main event following the withdrawal of Rafael dos Anjos.
As Luke Thomas of MMA Fighting noted in the aftermath of UFC 196, it’s rare to see fighters in any combat sport make that kind of jump; the Notorious’ previous fight was for the featherweight title, which is a 145-pound limit:
Having taken some big shots from Diaz, it’s feasible that in the heat of a frantic fight McGregor lost a little composure and panicked when put in the submission hold. Still, for a combat athlete, submitting to an opponent is galling and that’s something which will surely be resonating with the Irishman as he seeks to process this loss.
Shields knows what it’s like to be in the Octagon and the minerals competitors need to even step foot in there. So while he’s right to praise his friend, although McGregor did tap out, any suggestions the Notorious lacks heart seem to be misplaced when you consider his achievements in the UFC so far.
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