Joe Lauzon and Nate Diaz will forever be connected, despite never fighting one another. They were cast-mates on The Ultimate Fighter season five (the best season) and at UFC 196, Nate passed Joe Lauzon as the fighter with the most bonuses in UFC history. He and Diaz have both enjoyed decade-long careers in the UFC, and few athletes can claim that milestone. Lauzon is also a vastly underrated analyst who needs to be paid attention to, because he predicted the Nate Diaz/Conor McGregor fight perfectly.
“I think that Nate beats Conor McGregor… I think that everything with Conor is smoke and mirrors to disguise the left hand. The kicks, the movement coach, the haircut, everything. I think he’s just trying to hide the left hand which he’s beating everyone with.
The other thing I think everyone’s overlooking is the fact that Conor put on so much weight in such a short amount of time. There’s no way he’s going to be in cardio shape for that. We weren’t sure what kind of shape he’d be in in later rounds and I think we definitely won’t know now. I think Nate wins.”
And that’s what we ended up seeing, according to Conor McGregor:
“I feel I was simply inefficient with my energy. Usually I fight a man in the division I am champion in, and they crumble under those shots… My wheel kicks. I through them and missed. I think they did more to my energy than his energy. It was a battle of energy in there and he got the better of that.”
Hats off to Joe Lauzon. Now we can start the Lauzon/McGregor discusson. Who would take it? Lauzon has the edge on the ground, and we can all agree that McGregor still has a bright future at 155, but at welterweight, his opponents are simply too big for the featherweight champ.