The first thing that happened at UFC 202 that has Nate and his supporters to claim victory is Conor’s propensity to run away from Nate during the fight. Nate would later say that Conor should have been awarded a “yellow card” for this infraction, evidently proving that Nate still believes fights are governed by the rules Pride used in the 90s. Someone at Cesar Gracie might want to get their hands on an updated rule book.
There can be no doubt that Conor took a few breaks by jogging out of Nate’s range to catch a breather. In MMA you can do this up until the ref gives you a warning, and then you run the risk of losing a point. Conor was never warned (nor was a yellow card ever brandished), and never had a point deducted. While what Conor did was fine under the rules of MMA, it is considered a respect-deducting action to Nate and his fans.
The other occurrence from the fight that could lead Nate and many of his supporters to believe he won the fight (despite not actually winning the fight) is that Conor apparently left the fight with a leg injury and was seen on crutches later.
Nate recently posted the following on Instagram:
The injury to Conor’s shin is thought to be from Nate checking his leg kicks.
Conor played down the apparent injury after the fight, and posted a video of him training just one week after UFC 202. Ido Portal does not appear in the video.
