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SPORTSSaturday 5 March 2016
UFC196 In this photo taken, Wednesday, March 2, 2016, UFc featherweight champion Conor McGregor, lion in there, and I’m going
right, kicks striking coach Owen Roddy during open workouts for UFC 196 at MGM Grand in Las to eat you alive. Your little
Continued from page 17 Vegas. McGregor takes on Nate Diaz in UFC 196 on Saturday. gazelle friends are going
to be staring through the
Holm (10-0) takes on veter- Associated Press cage looking at your car-
an title contender Miesha cass getting eaten alive,
Tate (17-5) for the bantam- cent years. months in a whirlwind of after her stunning head- and they can do nothing.
weight belt shortly before Holm spent the past few publicity and attention kick knockout of Rousey, All they can say is they’re
McGregor (19-2) faces the most popular fighter never going to cross this
hard-hitting brawler Nate in mixed martial arts. But river again.”
Diaz (19-10) in a non-title when Rousey decided she Holm and Tate grinned as
welterweight bout — 25 couldn’t fight again until they watched from the
pounds heavier than the the fall, Holm agreed to a stage while McGregor and
usual limit for McGregor, showdown with Tate, a grit- Diaz lobbed insults at each
the UFC’s featherweight ty wrestler who hasn’t lost other.
king. Neither champion since Rousey beat her for “They’re over here flipping
needed to take the fights the second time in 2013. each other off under the
they’re facing, but neither “I feel like this is a really table, and Holly and I are
betrays any sign of worry tough fight for me, but what making each other friend-
about stepping into the else am I supposed to be ship bracelets,” Tate said.
MGM Grand Garden Are- doing here?” Holm asked. “I’m having a great time.”
na cage. The fans clearly “I want to fight all the girls McGregor planned to
appreciate it: Thousands that are the best, because become a two-division
lined up outside the arena that’s what makes the best champion this week, but
several hours before Fri- victory. Obviously this is a Dos Anjos hurt his foot
day’s weigh-in for a card really big challenge for me late last month. Rather
that ranks among the to take, and a lot of peo- than waiting for the light-
UFC’s hottest tickets in re- ple think it was even silly.” weight champ, McGregor
When Holm violently de- agreed to a non-title show-
throned Rousey, she down with Diaz, one of
cleared a path for Mc- the sport’s most entertain-
Gregor to rise atop ing fighters and an awfully
the sport. The Irishman good foil for McGregor’s
with a 15-fight winning verbal jousting.
streak seized that chance “I’m certainly going to toy
with both fists, winning with the young boy,” the
the 145-pound title with 27-year-old McGregor said
a 13-second knockout of of the 30-year-old Diaz.
Jose Aldo in December. “I’m going to play with him.
And while Holm and Tate His entries and his exits, his
are willing promoters of retreats, his feints are all
their fight, nobody can identical. He can’t break
match McGregor’s show- out of his patterns, out
manship. His presence on a of his set routines, so he is
card guarantees huge at- very, very predictable.”
tention and revenue when Diaz is the biggest man
fans and cameras behold McGregor has ever fought,
his verbal gifts, which were with advantages in height
in sharp form at this week’s and reach. McGregor’s ex-
news conference. tra weight should give him
“You’re like a gazelle,” Mc- added punching power,
Gregor said to Diaz. “I’m a but it could also affect his
quickness — not that it wor-
ries McGregor, who took
on his “Mystic Mac” perso-
na to predict that he’ll stop
Diaz late in the first round.
“Skill-wise, I made a big,
big jump from the (Chad)
Mendes performance to
the Aldo performance, but
I didn’t get to show a lot
of that because the fight
was so quick,” McGregor
said. “Part of me wants to
stretch it out to show that,
and to show the fans some
new sequences, some new
movements, some new
forms of attack and de-
fense. I just hope Nate can
last.”q
