Following his loss to Nate Diaz in the UFC 196 main event, Conor McGregor spoke to Ariel Helwani about what he thinks went wrong for him in the fight.
Ariel Helwani: Can you describe the emotions after a loss like that?
Conor McGregor: It stings, it stings real bad, but that’s the fight business. I’ve been on the end of many defeats in my life and I’ve rose back, so I will not shy away from it. I will not make excuses for it. I will assess it and come back.
Ariel Helwani: I know it’s still very fresh, but in hindsight, do you feel like you almost bit off more than you could chew here?
Conor McGregor: I just misinterpreted his efficiency. He was very efficient and he took shots well, and he played with his energy well, whereas I didn’t. I blew out, he did not. He almost…I felt I hurt him many times in the fight, I abandoned the body shots, the body shots were doing damage. He caught me with one or two jabs to the body and I avoided his body then after that. He played well, he went into auto-pilot mode, where I panicked a little bit. This is it, you win or you learn.
Ariel Helwani: Does this result mean your doing fighting at 170?
Conor McGregor: Definitely not. I take any fights. When the history books are written, I show up. I had many opportunities to walk from this fight, even after Nate got brought in. I show up to fight. I enjoyed the test. I feel a little bit more practice I could be aware. If I was fighting a man my own weight, 155 or 145, they’re going to be KOd from those shots. I feel a little bit of an adjustment of knowing that the opponent will be able to take more of it and then I could continue to compete at that weight no problem. If there’s a fight there, line me up. I’ll answer the bell no problem.
Ariel Helwani: As you can imagine, all your foes are asking to fight you now. In a perfect world, what would you like to do next?
Conor McGregor: You know, I think I’l go down and take that…I don’t know. I’ve seen Jose’s thing. He can celebrate in another man’s victory, but at the end of the day, when we faced, he was unconscious. That’s not the sign of a true champion. He’s celebrating in my loss when I defeated…He’s celebrating in someone else’s victory when I defeated him, I showed him respect, so maybe I’ll go back down and shut him up one more time. It is what it is. I’ll be back.
