UFC 196 Fight News: Canelo Alvarez Talks McGregor's Loss, Says Boxing Is 'Most Beautiful Thing' next to Women Compared to MMA
Reigning WBC middleweight champion Saul "Canelo" Alvarez gave his two cents on the March 5th UFC 196 main event bout between featherweight champion Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz.
Supposedly a lightweight title fight between McGregor and champion Rafael Dos Anjos, the fight instead was turned into a non-title welterweight contest, after Dos Anjos pulled out of the bout due to a broken foot, with merely 11 days before fight night.
After scouring through various opponent choices, the UFC decided to call in Diaz, who was then on vacation in Cabo, Mexico. Coming into the fight, it was "The Notorious" who was favored to win against Diaz, who had no training camp. But during the fight, the exact opposite happened, and the Stockton, California native was able to achieve victory via second round rear-naked choke submission.
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Many people attributed Diaz's size advantage and superiority on the ground that helped him pull off the shocker of the victory. McGregor, on the other hand, says he was merely inefficient with his energy, which then rendered him ineffective.
The two men are now slated to face each other in a rematch at UFC 200 in July, in another non-title welterweight bout.
UFC 196 is believed to be one of the most successful pay-per-view events in recent memory. Many people, including prominent prizefighting figures, have also tuned in to catch the fight. Most recently, Alvarez weighed in on the fight's outcome, where he says he expected the fight to go and end the way it did.
"I really envisioned that happening," Alvarez said in a report by Miguel Rivera for Boxingscene. "The worst mistake that Conor made was taking [the fight] lightly and going up so much in weight. Because of his pride, he did not beat Nate Diaz."
When asked for his own thoughts about the fight, heavyweight world champion boxer Tyson Fury went on to rip on mixed martial arts as a sport, claiming that boxing is still more superior. Alvarez managed to open up the same conversation and share the same sentiments.
"Boxing is the most beautiful thing after the women," the Mexican boxer said. "There are boxing fans and fans of the UFC. The people want to see blood, but there is fondness for both."
