Recently released footage seems to indicate that Conor’s gas tank might not have what it takes to go 5 rounds with Nate Diaz on August 20th…
Both Diaz brothers are known to have excellent cardio, and while Conor was thought to be in excellent condition, his hands did lower out of fatigue in that 2nd round at UFC 196. The reason Conor was tired at that point in the fight however, was that he was trying to end the fight with every single punch. That will tire you out.
It’s hard to blame Conor for going into the fight with Nate with that kind of mentality, considering how his previous fight had gone. When you’re a mixed martial artist and you knockout a champion who had defended his title successfully the previous 7 fights you will start to develop confidence in your striking. Unfortunately for Conor he was fighting Nate Diaz, and that’s not the guy you want to go in there against with that strategy.
Losing a big fight by gassing out was originally made popular by Mark Coleman in the earlier days of the UFC, but would later be a strategy Shane Carwin would use in his fight against Brock Lesnar at UFC 116. Conor’s loss is probably attributed equally to getting tired from putting everything into each punch and panicking when he realized he couldn’t knock him out however. Nate Diaz being an experienced and near elite level fighter also played a pivotal role in how UFC 196 played out.
