UFC 202: Conor McGregor Hits the Reset Button

It only took an extra month, but we got the big, violent, entertaining “biggest UFC event in promotional history” -type show we had been waiting for.

UFC 200, for as well-hyped as it was and for as many promotional dollars as were poured into it, especially by the UFC’s incredibly poor promotional standards, and as loaded with top-tier, highly ranked talent as it was, produced a rather uninspiring event.

UFC 202, on the other hand, an event that emanated from the same arena as UFC 200, which was headlined by the fight that was originally supposed to be the bubbles in UFC 200’s champagne, which had very little promotion compared to its older, more expensive brother, filled out with lesser known names in matchups that were less likely by hardcore fans and definitely by casual fans to be considered “must see” viewing, produced fireworks that the post-4th of July show’s damp wick failed to ignite.

That’s just what happens when you light one match head with another one.

We saw Lorenz Larkin make a Neil Magny fight entertaining (by using his elbows). We saw Cody Garbrandt punch a ticket to Dominic Cruz using Takeya Mizugaki’s face. We saw Tim Means explain to Sabah Homasi what it means to face “The Dirty Bird” (stop giggling…). We saw Donald Cerrone use his precision kickboxing to take out Rick Story and continue his march to welterweight glory…that he apparently doesn’t want because hey, Eddie Alvarez has a belt now! IT’S SO SHINY!

Oh, and I’m guessing Glover Teixeira must have lost his ticket to the Rumble train in his luggage because Anthony Johnson punched him a new one, and did it in record time. Damn, that man hits hard.

As much fun as all of that was, and it was, the real reason everyone tuned into this Payperview, whether some fans want to admit it or not, was the welterweight rematch between lightweight contender Nate Diaz and featherweight champion Conor McGregor.

For most, this fight, a rematch of the UFC 196 headliner, was seen as nothing more than UFC desperately trying to hit the reset button, giving Conor a second chance to get the win that should have and would have been his if he hadn’t gassed after the first round of their March encounter, or if he didn’t break mentally after Nate walked through his punches, or if he didn’t try to take down a jiu-jitsu black belt who is at his best when he’s forced to go into survival mode.

Now, all of that is true. Very few fighters would have been given the opportunity at a do-over the way Conor was, especially in a fight that had a definitive finish and had zero stakes other than giving Conor the verbal currency he needed to buy any future match-up he wanted in whatever weight class his appetite desired a need to be sated by at that moment.

But this fight was more than just that. It was also about the money. Lots of money. Record-breaking disclosed payout money.

Yeah, the rematch didn’t make any more sense than the original fight did, but it really doesn’t matter that much for one reason: it’s what the fans wanted and the sport has no meaning if it’s not catering to the fans.

Hardcore fans can harp all they want that Conor needs to defend his featherweight belt or that Nate should have used the momentum and notoriety he gained from the win to move towards a title fight but it can’t be denied that those two men together are generating massive business.

I mean, if you ran an MMA promotion and had two men who, on a week-and-a-half notice, could put together a fight capable of generating one of the biggest buyrates in company history, you’d run it back too, wouldn’t you?

And, in retrospect, I think a lot of fans are glad UFC did because the rematch ended up being everything we wanted and more. It was the battle we hoped the first fight would be, a clash between Conor’s awkward yet effective kickboxing vs. the classic Diaz boxing he and brother Nick are famous for.

It’s never a question what Nate plans to bring to a fight. The bigger question was whether Conor could stop it. He was on the right track in the first fight before everything fell apart. This fight was all about how much Conor learned from that first fight and if he could make the corrections necessary to get the win this time.

Conor fought a much smarter, more measured fight this time around, doing everything to not let the emotions he has displayed over the last few days get to him; he needed to stop throwing cans of energy drink and, instead, throw leg kicks, which he did; he landed some hard punches, knocking Nate down a few times early in the fight; he stayed composed when he started to tire; and, most importantly, he avoided the ground.

Well, for the most part. You couldn’t expect him to plug up all the holes in his gameplan in only a few months.

Nate certainly had his moments, since you can never keep a Diaz down, but the most significant damage he dished usually came late in the rounds, allowing Conor to survive and live to see another five minutes. Nate hurt Conor with punches in the third round and got on top of the Irishman near the end of the fight, but neither effort was enough to put Conor away and neither effort was enough to take the fight, as Conor ultimately saw his hand raised via a majority decision.

It’s rare when a rivalry the magnitude of Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz produces a fight that lives up to the hype and, so far, the gentlemen are 2 for 2 in that respect.

The first fight gave us the shock of what could happen when stars align over a planet as chaotic as mixed martial arts, even in a short notice environment, and the rematch showed the full radiance and the realized potential of those stars re-aligning again and the uniqueness of getting to see such an event with your own eyes.

There were certainly more logical opponents these men could have been facing on Saturday. There are definitely men out there as, if not more, deserving of the opportunities these men have been handed.

But these men have earned this moment. They worked hard to make people care and they worked hard to prove that the spotlight does not shine on anyone any brighter.

They talked the talk, then they walked the walk. Bravo.

One thing is certainly true: if you didn’t find the battle on Saturday to be one of the most thrilling in recent UFC memory, then this sport must not be a lot of fun for you because everyone else is having a blast right now.

Most notable among those: Conor and Nate’s accountants. I bet I know what fight those guys would like to see next…

The reset button has been pressed. Now, let’s hit fast forward and make some more money and some more memories.

Evan Zivin has been writing for 411 MMA since May of 2013. Evan loves the sport, and likes to takes a lighthearted look at the world of MMA in his writing…usually.