Conor McGregor vs Nate Diaz

Lore & Background

At the time of the rivalry, McGregor was the UFC Featherweight Champion. He had not yet won the UFC Lightweight Championship when the first fight occurred in March 2016; he won the lightweight title later in 2016 at UFC 205.

In Their Own Story

The arena in Las Vegas hummed with a noise that felt less like a crowd and more like a weather system. The octagon lights cut through the haze, and in one corner a man in a white robe bounced on his toes, jaw set, eyes half-closed like a boxer sizing up a wall he intended to walk through. In the other corner, a smaller man in a black robe jabbed the air, mouthing words, veins standing out on his neck like road maps. The referee's voice was lost under the roar. Gloves touched. The bell rang. For thirty seconds the smaller man was a storm—hands like pistons, feet like a metronome. Then the bigger man rolled his shoulders, smiled, and kept coming. The crowd's roar turned to a held breath. The storm hit him. He didn't fall. He hit back. And somewhere in the second round, the storm simply stopped, and the man who had walked into it was on his back, staring up at the cage ceiling while the lights swirled and the world he had built in the last two years cracked down around him. The bigger man stood over him, chest heaving, and for one strange, silent moment the two of them were just two men in a cage, breathing, while the noise came back.

Reader's Guide

The first fight took place at UFC 196 on March 5, 2016, where Diaz submitted McGregor in the second round. The second fight was at UFC 202 on August 20, 2016, where McGregor won by majority decision.

Did You Know?

• McGregor's fight against Diaz at UFC 202 was a majority decision, not a split decision.
• McGregor was the UFC Featherweight Champion during both fights with Diaz.
• The first McGregor-Diaz fight was at welterweight, not McGregor's usual featherweight or lightweight divisions.

The Ascent: From Dublin Gym to Two-Division King

Conor Anthony McGregor, born in Dublin on 14 July 1988, carved a path through mixed martial arts that few before him had walked. After beginning his professional career in 2008 across the lightweight and featherweight divisions, he captured both the Cage Warriors Featherweight and Lightweight titles in 2012, becoming the first European professional to simultaneously hold championships in two weight classes. His arrival in the UFC in 2013 set the stage for a rapid ascent: five straight victories led to an interim featherweight belt against Chad Mendes at UFC 189, and then a 13-second knockout of José Aldo at UFC 194 — the fastest finish ever recorded in a UFC title bout. By 2016, defeating Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205, McGregor had added the lightweight championship to his collection, making him the first fighter in UFC history to hold titles in two divisions at the same time. That dual-division reign remains a singular feat in the sport's record books.

The Pay-Per-View Phenomenon

Few athletes in any combat sport have generated the kind of commercial gravity McGregor did. He stands as the biggest pay-per-view draw in MMA history, headlining the five highest-selling UFC events ever broadcast. His 2018 bout against Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229 produced 2.4 million PPV purchases, a record for any MMA event. Even more staggering was his 2017 crossover boxing match against Floyd Mayweather Jr., which pulled in over 5.3 million buys across the United States and the United Kingdom — the second-highest-selling pay-per-view event in all of history. The financial rewards were equally extraordinary. Forbes named him the world's highest-paid athlete in 2021 with reported earnings of $180 million, and he also appeared on that list in 2018, ranking fourth with $99 million. These figures cemented his status not merely as a fighter but as a global commercial force whose name alone could move millions of wallets.

Beyond the Octagon: Boxing, Business, and New Ventures

McGregor's story extends well past the cage. In 2017 he stepped into professional boxing for a single, highly publicised bout against Floyd Mayweather Jr., a fight he lost by technical knockout in the tenth round. He returned to MMA afterward, taking on Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229 and suffering a submission defeat. Yet his entrepreneurial ambitions continued to grow. McGregor has invested in the alcoholic beverage industry and serves as a co-owner of the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship, a promotion dedicated to bare-knuckle boxing. These ventures reflect a fighter who sought to build an empire beyond his own physical prime. His early inspirations — Naseem Hamed, Muhammad Ali, Bruce Lee — spoke to a desire for larger-than-life spectacle, and his business choices suggest he channelled that same showmanship into building brands and organisations that would outlast any single fight night.

Controversy, Courtrooms, and a Political Gambit

McGregor's later years have been marked by a series of legal and public controversies that have overshadowed his in-cage achievements. He has faced both civil and criminal charges spanning assault, disorderly conduct, driving offences, and rape. In November 2024, an Irish High Court found in a civil case that he had assaulted and raped a woman in 2018, ordering him to pay more than €248,000 in damages. By December 2024, he was further ordered to cover the victim's legal costs of roughly €1.5 million. His July 2025 appeal of that verdict was unsuccessful. The rulings triggered the loss of multiple sponsorship and partnership deals. Adding to the turbulence, McGregor publicly commented on the 2023 Dublin riots and Irish immigration policy, drawing further criticism. In March 2025 he announced he would run as an independent candidate in the Irish presidential election, with his stated views described as anti-immigration, far-right, and national populist. On 14 September 2025, he withdrew from the race.