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UFC 196:

UFC left to rearrange pieces after McGregor, Holm fall

Upsets create puzzle for the biggest fights the rest of the year

Women's Bantamweight Miesha Tate Choke

L.E. Baskow

Women’s Bantamweight Miesha Tate attempts to choke out champion Holly Holm in their fight during UFC 196 from the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

UFC 196 at MGM Grand

Welterweight Nate Diaz raises his hands in victory while leaving the octagon after beating Conor McGregor during UFC 196 from the MGM Grand Garden Arena on Saturday, March 5, 2016. Launch slideshow »

UFC 196: Weigh-In at MGM Grand

UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion Holly Holm flexes on the scale during the UFC 196 weigh ins at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on Friday, March 4, 2016. Launch slideshow »

In stark contrast to the way it paraded and partied through the MGM Grand after fight cards last July and December, Conor McGregor’s largely Irish fan base filtered out of UFC 196 muted and miserable Saturday night.

Most kept their heads down, trying to rationalize how relative journeyman Nate Diaz subdued McGregor’s unprecedented and previously unstoppable rise through the UFC with a submission (rear-naked choke) victory at 4:12 of the second round. Those on the stage in the adjacent ballroom for the post-fight news conference attempted to unpack similar questions.

“Sixteen years in the business, the one thing you don’t ever do is think you know what’s going to happen, because you don’t,” UFC President Dana White said in his brief comments before he abruptly left and handed over control to a media-relations spokesman.

Before the card, many suggested the UFC was making the biggest gamble in Las Vegas on Saturday night. The same group would say the promotion lost in the end.

McGregor, the featherweight champion, was originally aligned to have a shot at history by winning a second belt at Saturday’s event. Lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos pulled out of the bout with a broken foot two weeks ago, but delaying their meeting to July’s UFC 200 was never strongly considered.

McGregor instead rushed into a welterweight meeting with Diaz, and eyed 170-pound champion Robbie Lawler as a potential opponent for the summer’s landmark pay-per-view the UFC hoped would be its biggest ever. The only bout that could have drawn more interest was a rematch between Holly Holm and Ronda Rousey, which was also linked to UFC 200 earlier in the year.

It’s safe to say none of those mega-fights is anywhere in the near future after Holm joined McGregor in the loser’s category at UFC 196. Holm fell unconscious to a Miesha Tate rear-naked choke at 3:30 of the fifth round in the co-main event to lose her women’s bantamweight championship belt.

“A lot of people were like, ‘Why are you taking this fight? You should have waited for the rematch,’” Holm explained. “You know what? I’m in this to fight. That’s what I’m in it for, and tonight I made some mistakes. That’s it.”

McGregor and Holm stood united on that front. As much heartbreak as they both conveyed over losing their perfect UFC records, they stressed the absence of any regrets to an equal degree.

“I will never shy away from a challenge,” McGregor said. “I will never shy away from defeat. This is part of the game. I am happy to come out there and stay in the fight. I had many chances to not do this, to sit and wait. But I went in, I took the fight and it didn’t pay off. This is the fight business. There’s another day. I’ll come back.”

McGregor’s likely next move is dropping 25 pounds to get back to where he can defend his title. He described UFC 200 as still “there for me,” with either a rematch against Jose Aldo or a bout versus former lightweight champion Frankie Edgar.

The size difference was a noticeable factor at UFC 196. Although McGregor punched effectively enough to slice up his opponent’s face in the first round, Diaz was able to take the punches better than the last five foes the champion had knocked out inside of two rounds.

And Diaz’s own punches affected McGregor much more significantly than any 145-pound fighter’s had previously. McGregor shot for the takedown that led to his demise only after Diaz put him in trouble with a near-knockdown on the feet.

“Nothing surprised me except that I got hit at all,” Diaz said. “He got a lot push and he was doing great; he’s got a lot of help behind him. I just wish I had the same push, the same help. I’ve been in this a long time. It’s been nine years, just had my 25th fight in the UFC and I’ve been in the last few years curious when this was all going to pay off and I think it’s time.”

Diaz passed on an opportunity to speculate about his next fight, probably because there’s no clear answer. The natural lightweight is only 3-2 lifetime as a welterweight, leaving a title shot against Lawler almost surely out of the picture.

His stock is high enough for him to fight for the 155-pound title, but dos Anjos bulldozed him in a unanimous decision just more than a year ago.

Matchmaking would appear easier for Tate, who had earned a third fight with Rousey before the UFC awarded it to Holm over her last year. Tate showed improvements that could threaten Rousey.

Although Holm recorded the striking advantage, Tate held up against the former professional boxer’s stand-up much better than Rousey had. She lost three of the first four rounds but was able to mount enough energy in the final minutes to overpower Holm with her grappling.

The problem is, no one knows when Rousey will return. It’s not expected to be until at least the latter part of the year, and Tate might not want to wait that long.

Like Diaz, Tate was justifiably uninterested in delving into her future on a night that was the pinnacle of a decade spent dedicating herself to the sport.

“The right move feels like drinking a Budweiser and eating cupcakes,” Tate laughed in referencing her sponsor and nickname.

“It doesn’t matter to me. I don’t feel like that’s my responsibility. That’s my management’s responsibility and the UFC’s responsibility. My job is to show up and defend this belt.”

The schedule would have filled out much more easily and lucratively if McGregor and Holm had lived up to their billings as big favorites. But no one was in the mood to second-guess after UFC 196.

Not even White, who once joked he should lose his promoter’s license if he allowed Holm to take another fight before a rematch with Rousey.

“I won’t be that guy tonight,” he said on the Fox Sports 1 post-fight show.

Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.

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