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The UFC returns to Las Vegas on Saturday for the second event ever at the new T-Mobile Arena. The main event of the UFC 202 card is a rematch at welterweight between lightweight contender Nate Diaz and featherweight champion Conor McGregor.
UFC 202 Main Card
Tim Means (171) vs. Sabah Homasi (170.5)
Hyun Gyu Lim (171) vs. Mike Perry (169)
Rick Story (171) vs. Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone (170)
Anthony “Rumble” Johnson (205.5) vs. Glover Teixeira (205.5)
Nate Diaz (170.5) vs. Conor McGregor (168)
UFC 202 Preliminary Card (UFC Fight Pass)
– Marvin Vettori def. Alberto Uda via Submission (guillotine) at 4:30 of Round 1
– Colby Covington def. Max Griffin via TKO (strikes) at 2:28 of Round 3
– Lorenz Larkin def. Neil Magny via TKO (strikes) at 4:08 of Round 1
UFC 202 Preliminary Card (FOX Sports 1)
– Cortney Casey def. Randa Markos via submission (armbar) at 4:34 of Round 1
– Artem Lobov def. Chris Avila via unanimous decision after three rounds
– Raquel Pennington def. Elizabeth Phillips via unanimous decision after three rounds
– Cody Garbrandt def. Takeya Mizugaki via TKO (strikes) at 0:48 of Round 1
UFC 202 Main Card (PPV)
Tim Means vs. Sabah Homasi
Round 1: Both guys make their walks to the cage to kick off tonight’s PPV card. Bruce Buffer is wrapping up his introduction now. Our first PPV fight of the evening is about to get started. Means lands a good counter left hand that was a solid clean shot. Sabah with a nice leg kick. He gets Means to the ground and is working from top position against the cage. Means wall-walks back to his feet and is now scoring with some decent punches. Homasi gets Means down to the mat for the second time in the round thus far. Means works hard for the arm of Homasi, which provides him an opportunity to find some space and return to his feet. Means opens up Homasi with an elbow and the blood immediately starts flowing. Homasi’s face is quickly becoming a crimson mask. Means, like a shark, smells that blood and is turning up the pressure with a smothering striking attack. Homasi eats a bunch of solid shots but manages to survive the round.
Round 2: Means picks things up where they left off at the end of round one, smothering Homasi and keeping his back against the cage while crushing him with big shots. “The is the beginning of the end,” says Joe Rogan on commentary. The blood is flowing pretty good again from the cut on Homasi. Means mixing in some kicks and knees now with his punches, which he continues to score at will with. Referee Herb Dean sees a couple more clean shots land and a lot more blood pour out of the face of Homasi and steps in to end the contest. Great performance by “The Dirty Bird” to score a second round finish to open up tonight’s PPV.
Tim Means def. Sabah Homasi via TKO (ref stoppage due to strikes) at 2:56 of Round 2.
Hyun Gyu Lim vs. Mike Perry
Round 1: The video package just wrapped up and Mike Perry begins his walk to the cage for his official UFC debut fight here in our second PPV match of the evening. They stopped him before entering the cage to cut his long fingernails, which Joe Rogan said really bothered him due to the amount of eye pokes with the fingerless gloves in the UFC. Hyun Gyu Lim just finished up his Octagon walk. Bruce Buffer is doing his thing now. PPV fight number two will be live momentarily. Here we go. Perry lands a couple of good leg kicks early. Nice jab from Perry. Perry lands a big shot that hurts Lim. Perry is on top of Lim. He’s on top of him now landing solid ground and pound. They return to their feet and within seconds, Perry blasts and hurts Lim with an even bigger punch this time. He follows up, blasting him on the mat while referee “Big” John McCarthy takes a closer look. Ultimately, he decides to let him back up again and this time he connects with a bomb that face-plants Lim. Perry follows in with two more punches and “Big” John pulls him off. Awesome Octagon debut for Mike Perry.
Mike Perry def. Hyun Gyu Lim via TKO (strikes) at 3:38 of Round 1
Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone vs. Rick "Horror" Story
Round 1: After a quick video promo for the Madison Square Garden debut of the UFC for the UFC 205 PPV in November, Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone makes his walk to the Octagon for our next fight. His opponent, Rick “Horror” Story just finished his walk now as well. Bruce Buffer is doing what he does best and then it will be time for Cowboy Cerrone and Horror Story to throw down in our third PPV fight of the evening. Here we go. Story trying to pressure Cowboy with non-stop forward motion, likely as a means of shutting down Cerrone’s superior striking game. Out of nowhere, however, it is Cerrone who shoots in and successfully takes Story down. The two scramble back to their feet and are clinched against the cage right now. Story scores a takedown off the cage but Cerrone immediately starts looking for submissions off his back. He goes for an Oma Plata that looked close before transitioning into a triangle choke. He thinks about an armbar but ends up with nothing. Horror starts to take the back of Cerrone but the two wind up scrambling away and back to their feet. Story’s striking is looking pretty solid during these exchanges. Having said that, Cerrone tags Story and that one seemingly rocked Story briefly. The ten second ticker hits as the first round comes to a close.
Round 2: Story looks for a takedown in the early goings of the second round, but doesn’t get in deep enough and Cerrone tags him a few times on the way out, making him pay for the attempt. Moments later Cerrone stunned Story, stringing together a three-piece combo with fries. A solid body shot, followed by a straight head shot and finishing with a big head kick. That was the beginning of the end for Story as Cerrone did a basic follow up attack and the fight was stopped. Cerrone continues to impress at his new weight class of 170 pounds.
Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone def. Rick Story via TKO (strikes) at 2:02 of Round 2
Anthony “Rumble” Johnson vs. Glover Teixeira
Round 1: Our co-main event, the striking fans dream match between knockout artists Anthony “Rumble” Johnson and Glover Teixeira is up next. The video package for the fight just finished and Teixeira begins his walk to the Octagon for our second to last fight of the evening. Rumble Johnson make his walk now and is in the cage. Both guys are ready to go, all that’s left is for Bruce Buffer to hype up the fans with his heavily emphasized “FIGHTING out of the …” trademark introductions and then we’ll be underway. And they’re off! Glover goes right after Rumble with crazy pressure and pays for it dearly. Rumble drops him with an enormous bomb within the first few seconds of the fight. “Good lord!” exclaims an excited Joe Rogan.
Anthony “Rumble” Johnson def. Glover Teixeira via KO (punch) at 0:13 of Round 1
Conor McGregor vs. Nate Diaz
Round 1: The video package for the rematch everyone has been waiting for is playing now. Fight fans, we’re literally seconds away from Diaz-McGregor 2. This has a big fight feel the level very few fights have ever had. Sinead O’Connor’s voice can be heard, and we all know what that means! It’s time for “The Notorious” Irish mega-star to make that walk. Finally, we see his face on the screen as he is walking with his cornermen backstage with the Irish flag wrapped around his shoulders. Sinead O’Connor music transitions to The Notorious B.I.G. and McGregor emerges from the tunnel and heads towards the Octagon to attempt to avenge his lone UFC defeat. Much like the infamous scene in the ring for the Mike Tyson vs. Lennox Lewis boxing superfight years ago, there is a line of security guards separating the Octagon in half to ensure Diaz and McGregor don’t get things started before the actual bout begins. 2Pac’s “Ambitions as a Ridah” plays as the pride of Stockton, California makes his way to the cage. Both fighters are set, Bruce Buffer just finished up the final official pre-fight business. Folks, it’s time for Diaz-McGregor 2 right now! The wait is finally over. Neither guy is interested in touching gloves after the final face-off. Round one begins. McGregor comes out and in “Notorious” fashion, goes straight at Diaz and backs him up, commanding the center of the Octagon for himself. McGregor clearly has a gameplan that involves leg kicks, as he has thrown many, many leg kicks already. Powerful ones that Diaz isn’t checking, too. McGregor rocks Diaz with a big punch. McGregor drops him. Diaz survives. Back on the feet, McGregor does a good job of not getting too overly exciteable. He immediately goes back to the gameplan and starts chopping away at the legs of Diaz with solid low kicks. McGregor lands a clean straightt punch to the grill of Diaz. With under a minute left in the round, McGregor lets off the gas a bit and dances around while Diaz tries to mount any meaningful offense, but to no avail. Instead, McGregor throws a bomb and connects. Round one is over and it was clearly a Conor McGregor round.
Round 2: McGregor comes out composed and collected again in the second, going right after Diaz with leg kicks. McGregor floors Diaz with another big shot. He stays composed and backs up, forcing “Big” John McCarthy to tell Diaz to stand up. Moments later, McGregor drops Diaz again and does the same thing, backing up and forcing Diaz to get back to his feet. Diaz starts to get his senses back. McGregor continues to chop away with leg kicks while landing the occasional power punch. Diaz lands a nice straight punch of his own but McGregor quickly answers back, while remembering to mix in leg kicks. McGregor using a lot of footwork now, seemingly trying to avoid exchanges. At least that’s what Diaz believes, as he is moving forward and going after McGregor. He’s turning on the Stockton charm now, as he taunts McGregor before rocking him with a big shot. Other than a lot of leg kicks and Diaz getting fully dropped a couple of times, this is eerily similar to the first fight in terms of momentum. Diaz is taking over this fight again ladies and gentlemen. The horn sounds to end the second round and Diaz throws up a double bicep pose while strutting back to his corner full of confidence. This should be a very interesting third round coming up.
Round 3: McGregor comes out for the third clearly still breathing heavy and seemingly in danger. Diaz literally points this out, as he points at Diaz and smiles before moving forward to handle business. The fans chant “Diaz! Diaz!” as the Stockton native gets some offensive work done in a clinch with McGregor against the cage. The two separate and now that there’s some distance between the two, McGregor lands a big shot and follows up with some leg kicks. Diaz is still the man with the momentum on his side here in the second half of the third round. He’s taunting and mocking McGregor again now after McGregor attempts a spin kick. Diaz tags McGregor with a one-two. He puts together a multi-shot combo, working in a Stockton Slap in the process. McGregor’s back is against the cage. He’s clearly tired and Diaz is turning up the intensity. The finish seems like it’s inevitable, as McGregor will have a hell of a time surviving ten more minutes with a Nate Diaz who will never get completely fatigued.
Round 4: McGregor with a nice one-two combo with the hands to kick off the fourth round. Diaz now has a cut near his eye. McGregor with some leg kicks. The blood is starting to flow now from the face of Diaz, and while it hasn’t stopped McGregor from looking less than fresh, it definitely gave “The Notorious” one a boost of energy/adrenaline. McGregor is turning up the offense a bit now as the blood is free-flowing from Diaz’s face here in the fourth. Both men are clinched against the cage now. Diaz actually is starting to seem a bit tired here in the fourth. McGregor with another good shot. He might be winning this round and if he does, the fifth round will be extremely interesting in terms of deciding how the fight will be scored if it goes the distance. Diaz rocks McGregor with a good shot. McGregor answers back with a big shot of his own that staggers Diaz. Both guys take a breather here in the latter portion of the fourth round. McGregor with a nice combo. “He seems to have caught a second wind, Mike,” says Joe Rogan on commentary about the gas tank of the Irish mega-star. Diaz slips on a kick attempt at the buzzer. We’re going to a fifth and final round in what has been an incredible fight.
Round 5: This fight is living up to and exceeding expectations unlike any big fight in recent memory. We’ve got it even, 2-2 after 4, on our unofficial scorecard going into this fifth and final round. McGregor looking good here in the early goings of the fifth round, which is now underway. The blood is pouring out of Diaz’s face once again — badly. McGregor is staying on him and landing solid shots. He even went for a flying knee, so yeah, he definitely got a second wind somehow after seemingly being completely exhausted in the first half of the fight. Diaz goes for a takedown while the two are clinched on the cage. He came pretty close but ultimately McGregor avoided being taken to the ground. Diaz now taking over the offensive momentum again now as we reach tthe half-way point of the last round. McGregor looks up at the clock on the big screen while in a clinch with Diaz on the cage. He could be gassing out again, or he could just be seeing how much time he has left to work, knowing he could be on the wrong end of a tough judges decision if this one goes all the way. 30 seconds remains as Diaz keeps McGregor’s back on the cage, where it has been for the past minute. He scores a takedown and finishes the round and the fight hammering away at McGregor with ground and pound. The crowd is going absolutely nuts right now as McGregor and Diaz truly delivered on all of the hype that preceeded this highly-anticipated rematch. What a fight. Thank god I’m not a judge. Fifth round might be the hardest to call of the fight. McGregor and Diaz showing each other some respect now that the fight is over. You’ve got to love that. No real way not to earn a man’s respect after a 25-minute battle like the one we just saw.
Conor McGregor def. Nate Diaz via Majority Decision (48-47, 47-47, 48-47) after five rounds