It was a terribly disappointing night for fans of Conor McGregor at UFC 196 as Nate Diaz put a halt to the runaway freight train that was Conor McGregor's momentum in the UFC.
We had heard that a bigger, more comfortable Conor would produce fireworks, but in the end it looked like the idea of a five-round fight was never considered as his cardio was left badly wanting.
Besides the training camp, and two breakfasts a day, here are three big mistakes that may have been overlooked, although we acknowledge that hindsight is 20/20.
"Make it 170, and tell him to get comfortable.."
It was cocky, and had McGregor emerged victorious it would have made the win look even more impressive as the line "the weight doesn't matter" had been trotted out numerous times in the build-up to make Conor look like someone who could effortlessly move up or down and still maintain what makes him such a dangerous fighter...
But the weight does matter.
Not just in terms of making this fight easier for Diaz by ensuring that he would have not have to go through any sort of weight-cut, but by also bulking up himself and sacrifcing some cardio, which clearly took a major toll on the Irishman as he was gassed mid-way through the second round.
The creation of "The McGregor Belt".
It doesn't matter what weight division or what belt is on the line because really I should create my own belt.
I myself am my own belt. It doesn't matter if it's featherweight, lightweight, welterweight. It's the McGregor belt. So that's it. I'm fighting for my own belt.
Here's is Conor's post to Instagram before he fought Jose Aldo:
And this is post to Instagram before he fought Nate Diaz:
Now, you may think you can't read much from an Instagram account when it comes to MMA, but here you have a manical focus, and a knowledge that he must deliver in the biggest fight of his life in one post, and the other is a man who's joking, laughing, and calling himself a God.
Yes, Conor's incredible self belief is what makes him different, but what ever happened to "The talking is over, now we get down to business" or "On fight day I show no emotion"? The fight had been sold, it was time to switch into business mode, but he never did.
Conor did not take this fight as seriously as he did for any other fight in his UFC career. And it bit him in the ass. Now "The McGregor Belt" that he said he should create belongs to Nate Diaz.
'The Notorious' not entering to Biggie Smalls.
As soon as I didn't hear that infamous Biggie grunt at the start of 'Hypnotise', I got a sinking feeling that something bad was about to happen for Conor.
Again, it seems trivial, but that the intro music that Conor had used for his UFC career so far was iconic. The mixture of Sinead's harrowing vocals with the thumping beat of the Notorious B.I.G.'s flagship anthem got the crowd involved and had become a routine, just like the sadistic smirk that I saw against Aldo and made me feel absolutely sure he was going to win. There was no smirk, because there was no focus. Conor bounced to the Octagon like it was the open workouts.
The choice of 'El Chapo' by The Game was just another joke. It was another reference to this bizarre infatuation with 'El Chapo' that has developed since Conor fought Aldo. Shocking call.
In summary, it was a very disappointing night for Conor McGregor and his fans. It is absolutely not, however, the death of "McGregor mania", as Conor is lucky that he learned this lesson in a non-title fight.
Now he can still compete for the lightweight title, but will know that he can't take the jump in weight class so lightly next time around.
