UFC 196 Aftermath Opinions by @BeigeHarleyRace

What an eventful night we had Saturday night, at UFC 196. Two upsets in two spectacular fights, and while nights like this is why I love this sport, it also causes me great annoyance in the fact that you get a bunch of morons who watch 2-3 fights a year adding their two cents in and critiquing fighters. After seeing a massive amount of hot takes throughout twitter, I decided to put things in perspective as a long time fan of the sport. A lot of prisoner of the moment fans are going to criticize Conor McGregor while discrediting how talented Nate Diaz is, which is pathetic… but I assure you Conor McGregor should get nothing be praise after last nights fight.

Mayweather fanboys coming out the woodworks

One thing that annoyed me last night was the massive amount of casual boxing fans (folks who really watch one boxing fight a year), who claim to be Floyd Mayweather fans coming out the wood works to bash Conor McGregor for his comments about Floyd. How is it Conor’s fault that Floyd decided to openly bash him in the media, labeling his hype train the product of racism, and trying to discredit everything he’s accomplished? You expect Conor to just sit back as a man and let a big name superstar athlete run his name through the mud and not say anything about it? It was Floyd who started this whole beef between him and Conor.. Of course the casual fans are going to cry about Conor trying to use Floyd’s name to boost his own career… That’s clearly not the case. Conor is concerned about himself and his own legacy, the only time he ever brings up Floyd’s name is when the media asks him question about Floyd’s comments towards him, and Conor isn’t the type to roll over like a bitch and let a man punk him, so of course he has had not so pleasant things to say about Floyd, and he is in the right. So fake Mayweather fans, spare me your pathetic ‘MAYWEATHER CURSE LULZ” nonsense. Watch more than one boxing fight a year before you add your two cents in.

Conor McGregor needs to break away from the Yes-Man

One thing that bothered me is how Conor’s camp (John Kavanaugh (His head trainer)in particular) did not let Conor know about the repercussions of moving up two weight classes right off the bat. It seems like Kavanaugh has instilled in his brain that Conor is an unbeatable fighter where he can destroy anyone at any weight class, and has no real weaknesses. As a head trainer you have to let your fighter know about their weaknesses and not allow them to make huge risks like Conor did last night. While I admire Conor’s dedication and heart of a champion, to give us these dream fights, in reality he shouldn’t have jumped up to welterweight right away and should’ve gradually and slowly move up to the weight class. He looked great in the first round, he was peppering Nate with shots, but with the weight increase, his cardio looked done after the 1st round and Diaz took advantage of it. People try to say that Conor couldn’t bring the power he had at Featherweight up to Welterweight, and in my opinion thats discrediting the chin of Nate Diaz. I’ve seen Nate Diaz go to war with killers and the hardest hitters in lightweights and come out unfazed.

With that said, I can’t picture any top level trainer like, Javier Mendes, Bob Cook, Greg Jackson, or Rafael Cordiero allowing their fighters to move up 2 weight classes on 10 days notice facing an elite level fighter like Nate Diaz. Although it was great for the fans, as a trainer you have to protect your fighter and have their best interests in mind. You cant have them thinking they are invincible and could take on the world, because it will bite you in the ass. The biggest case of this is Ronda Rousey/Edmond Tarverdaryn… Another yes-man in Ronda’s corner who fails to criticize her flaws and it showed against Holm.

Even before Diaz was announced as Dos Anjos replacement… Weeks leading up to the previous dos Anjos fight, this nimrod John Kavanaugh was tweeting and announcing to the media that Conor McGregor was going to take on the Welterweight Champion, Robbie Lawler after the dos Anjos fight. First of all you’re about to go up against Rafael dos Anjos; a man who has dominated the divisions best fighters, you can’t look past him at all for your next challenge. Secondly, Conor would stand no chance against any top 5 Welterweight. Johny Hendricks who is currently ranked at #5 walks around over 200lbs and cuts to Welterweight, he would literally rag doll Conor McGregor all over the octagon.

This isn’t a knock on Conor at all, I respect his competitiveness and wanting to give fans dream fights. But when I think of this, I remember when Oscar De La Hoya decided to move up to middleweight and tried to dethrone Bernard Hopkins. Prior to that fight he won a very controversial decision in his first fight at middleweight against Felix Sturm in which virtually everyone scored the fight for Sturm. De La Hoya in that fight looked very sluggish and in over his head. Then he faced Hopkins for the belt and got blasted with a livershot. Bottom line, at middleweight De La Hoya looked like a kitten fighting lions. I don’t want to see the same happen to Conor, so hopefully he takes this fight as a lesson learned and focuses on defending the Featherweight Title and possibly sticking to his goals of getting that eventual Lightweight shot.

Nate Diaz raised great points in the build up about Conor McGregors training partners.  At Conor’s gym it’s really only him who is on an elite level status. He has Artem Lobov who is tough as nails, but really if you want to excel surrounding yourself with top level fighters who can also pick your brain and give you insight is a massive help to your success. A lot of champions nowadays come from elite gyms like American Kickboxing Academy, Jackson/Winkeljohn’s, American Top Team, Kings MMA etc., where they have a stable of top ranked fighters where they help each other get better at their weaknesses and even improve on their strengths. Hopefully Conor recognizes this and while he may not have to go to those gyms, it’s always great to bring in elite fighters for training camps to help get you better.

TMZ’s Hack ass journalists and past Conor McGregor foes coming out to kick a man while he’s down.

Probably what irritated me the most after Saturdays fights (all the 3rd rate websites who couldn’t tell the difference between a kimura or an armbar), had a lot to say about Conor McGregor for taking a risk and losing to an elite level fighter out of his weight class. All because they are bothered over the fact he promotes himself in a very controversial and outspoken way. I think my boiling point reached an all time when TMZ’s token urban black guy Van Lathan, a pompous, uneducated, turd nugget who knows absolutely nothing about any subject he talks about decided to be a smart ass and add his moronic two cents in…

dear UFC fighters STOP TALKING SO MUCH SHIT #UFC196

— vanlathan (@VanLathan) March 6, 2016

Yes, all young and coming “UFC”, not MMA fighters but “UFC fighters”… Listen to some hack ass goofball, gossiping queen who’s biggest career accomplishments are trying to get inside scoops on celebrities for other people to gossip and judge them on. Don’t go out of your way to stand out, and get the fans excited for your fights by trash talking so you can prevent yourself from putting more money into your pocket and building your brand as a fighter. Listen to some dorkchop who most likely was nothing more than a waterboy in any athletics he tried to participate in growing up, because his opinion is valued so much among the MMA community.

Hey Van, word of advice instead of trying to bash Conor for putting money in his company, opponent, and his own pocket’s, how about you tell your site to do a simple google search before publishing inaccurate nonsense like this, that makes zero fucking sense…

First off… Nate Diaz is the new champ? HE WON NO TITLE YOU WORTHLESS NITWITS, 2nd off what the hell is the “UCF”, and even if you meant the “UFC”, Jake Shields hasn’t fought in the organization in 2 years. Why is TMZ even covering MMA in the first place? I swear TMZ is an absolute shitstain of society, and I wish nothing but bad things to happen to the worthless media outlet. I will throw a keg party for it’s demise myself.

Another thing that bothered me was Jose Aldo, the once Featherweight king, who ruled the division with an iron fist has been doing nothing but shitting on his own legacy by acting like a total punk. After the fight, Aldo decided to make not so pleasant comments, calling him a pussy and claiming he’s ducking a rematch and all this nonsense. Listen when a man knocks you out in 12 seconds, you should really shut the fuck up when speaking about him and his manhood in a negative light. I have a lot of respect for Aldo and his accomplishments, but his reactions to McGregor’s loss are that of a teenage punk kid who knows no better. Not one of a real champion who was once one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world. Sometimes its better to keep quiet in certain situations.

Rafael dos Anjos, the man who pulled out of the original schedule fight with Conor McGregor also rushed to run McGregor’s name thru the mud. I am a dos Anjos fan myself, in fact I was one of the few who predicted his eventual rise to the lightweight title after he KO’d Ben Henderson and I knew he was a bad match up for Pettis. And while I do believe his injury was legit, after you pull out of a fight you have disqualified all rights to bash your opponent if you’re not fighting him. You didn’t beat Conor, Nate Diaz did, so keep quiet and rehab your fight. Then he made some amateur comment on Conor not being a “man” because he tapped out. Let’s take a trip down memory lane, Rafael when you submitted after Clay Guida broke your jaw. Where you a man then? Any person who has the balls to step into the cage and fight for our own entertainment is a man no matter what way you look at it. I expect those comments from a couch potato, but not a world champion fighter.

What’s Next for both fighters?

I just want to shout out Conor McGregor for not backing down from his original comments and taking this loss better than most fighters in his position would. He made zero excuses, and offered no apologies for being who he is and what he said. He didn’t go into hiding like other elite fighters did after a loss, he took it head on like a champion and he will get better from this. With that said, the next thing for Conor is too go back to his original weight class and defend his title. While some people think Aldo may get his rematch, the Frankie Edgar fight is much more intriguing. Style wise, Edgar can give Conor problems with his wrestling, speed and footwork despite being the smaller fighter. People forget Edgar fought bigger fighters at Lightweight and was a champion at the weight class. I truly believe Edgar has a top 5 MMA wrestling skill-set.  He manhandled bigger and more accomplished wrestlers like Gray Maynard and Sean Sherk. He also took down BJ Penn who has arguably some of the best takedown defense ever. I have no desire as a fan to see Conor rematch a man he knocked out in 12 seconds, despite that man ruling the division for years. Edgar/Conor is the fight I want to see; it’s a fresh and interesting match up. I think eventually Conor’s size would be too much for Edgar, but Edgar has proven me wrong more than any fighter so I know better than to count him out in any fight.

As for Nate Diaz, UFC has to strike the iron while it’s hot. He’s a fighter even the casual fans will demand to see and someone you can put in main events and will draw big. There has been talks of him facing Robbie Lawler for the welterweight championship, and while I think it could be a fun fight style wise, Nate has fought at welterweight 4 times going 2-2… not all that impressive. He needs to stick to his natural weight class at 155lbs. Some fans think he should fight Eddie Alvarez in a #1 contenders fight, but I say give him the lightweight title shot in a rematch against dos Anjos. While Nate got dominated the first fight, he came in the fight massively out of shape and looked like he didn’t want to be there. I personally want to see a new, focused and rejuvenated Nate Diaz take on dos Anjos. I truly believe that the Nate Diaz that beat Michael Johnson (a fighter I’m very high on) can beat any fighter at lightweight. Nothing will keep Nate focused more than a title shot and a big paycheque for a main event level fight.

Now we can all look forward to Cormier/Jones 2 next month, while we countdown to UFC 200 in a card that is promised to be big but still unknown at this point. One thing I have a sneaky feeling about, a Conor and Nate fight on that card (not against each other tho). Have a great day, thanks for reading.