Whipped McGregor comes out fighting

08 March 2016 - 02:48 By © The Telegraph, London

UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor said he had no regrets about stepping to welterweight at short notice to face American Nate Diaz after losing for the first time in his Ultimate Fighting Championship career on Saturday night. McGregor has been forced to reconsider his ambitions in the higher weight divisions and is now likely to return 11kg down at featherweight again.McGregor came into the contest weighing 76kg and after enjoying a successful first round with strikes and a stomp kick to Diaz's knee, fatigued quickly and was unable to break the American in his 22nd UFC fight.McGregor admitted he had "not been efficient enough". But the extra weight took its toll. There were huge risks for McGregor taking this fight as he did, and his team may look back and privately feel that it would have been wiser to meet Diaz at 70.3kg, making his opponent cut the weight, instead of moving up the two divisions."I stormed in and put it all on the line. I took a shot and missed. S**t happens."He is expected to earn $10-million and a build-up that captured the imagination of the fans. "I'll still be here when you wake up with the highest PPV [pay per view] and the gate," said McGregor. ..

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