John Kavanagh was ‘slightly terrified’ watching Nate Diaz absorb Conor McGregor’s blows

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Conor McGregor landed plenty of big shots on Nate Diaz in the first fight. The second one was a bit different, according to McGregor’s coach John Kavanagh.

At UFC 196, Diaz was moving away from a lot of the punches, reducing the impact. On Saturday night, though, Diaz was coming forward, absorbing the full power of McGregor’s left hands. And eating every one of them.

“You can’t get a heavier shot than that,” Kavanagh said Monday on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani. “And what does Nate do? Puts his hands out and walks forward. I’m not gonna lie, I was slightly terrified.”

McGregor did end up winning the hard-fought, bloody contest by majority decision (48-47, 47-47, 48-47). But Diaz was in it until the end, winning the fifth round on the judges’ scorecards and taking a dominant third frame. Diaz, of course, won the first fight via second-round submission.

In past fights, opponents have been melted down and put out by McGregor punches. Not Diaz. He was knocked down once in the first and twice in the second. But was never really in any danger of being …

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