UFC Fight: Why Nate Diaz Beat Champion Conor McGregor

What a great Saturday night! I setup my giant 120″ projector screen in my friend’s yard and we invited a pile of people over to watch the Diaz v. McGregor fight on pay per view. I swear it’s better than actually being there.

What I didn’t know until recently is that McGregor got his butt kicked by a vegan! Nate Diaz has been eating a predominately raw vegan diet since he was 18. McGregor normally fights at 145 lbs, but this fight took place at 170. To go up in weight, McGregor was chowing down on meat. I believe his loss was the direct result of his piss poor diet. John Kavanagh, McGregor’s head coach, is quoted as saying, “Weigh-ins in the morning, weigh-ins at night, that’s all gone… You’ve seen him on salads, now watch him on meat.” Well John, I was watching, and I wasn’t very impressed.

McGregor’s reaction time and endurance was slowed by the excess intra-muscular fat he accumulated. You could clearly see that he was not nearly as lean as he was at 145. McGregor normally fights by playing with is guard to entice his opponents into over-extending themselves on an attack. With his speed at 145, this strategy works because he’s fast enough to dodge the blows and counter-attack. At 170 though, his low guard was a recipe for disaster. In fact, his low guard may have been caused by a lack of energy to keep it up.

In the second round, Diaz got a couple of solid hits in and you could clearly see McGregor begin staggering around. The fight ended shortly thereafter, with Diaz choking a stunned McGregor out. McGregor lasted less than two rounds at around 7 minutes.

McGregor said, “I was inefficient with my energy. I’m humbled in victory and defeat. He took the fight on short notice and done the job. He was efficient. I was not. These things happen. I’ll learn, and I’ll grow. I’ll face it like a man.” – So here we have McGregor openly stating that his energy was spent within one round of fighting.

The meat directly impacts McGregor’s cardio performance. It directly impairs arterial dilation and it directly impairs cellular glucose uptake. Meat is also a pulmonary nightmare, reducing lung function through oxidative-nitrative stress. Assuming all other things equal, a fighter who sticks to a low fat vegan diet is going to have a cardio advantage. I think Diaz made that fact abundantly clear.

I predict Diaz will go on to be a dominating force in the UFC. This is Diaz’s ninth submission win. The only other person to have more wins by submission is Royce Gracie, who had 10. The Gracies are all vegetarian. Diaz is a student of Gracie jujitsu.