Nate Diaz on Conor McGregor’s takedown attempt: 'Oh, you're a wrestler now?'

Nate Diaz had a very easy way of knowing when the tide was going to turn in his fight with Conor McGregor: The punches hurt less.

“In the first (round), he was quick and he had his things to say, and in my head, I was like, ‘It’s all right. It’s all right. Next round, I’m going to be there, too,’” Diaz told FOX Sports 1 after his second-round comeback in Saturday’s UFC 196 non-title welterweight headliner. “When the next round started, it came quicker than I thought.”

Up until the point where McGregor’s power subsided, all signs pointed to a rough night for the Stockton, Calif., native. The UFC featherweight champ’s power was still present at 170 pounds, with several left hands finding their target. One opened a bloody cut on Diaz. Attempts to smother McGregor against the cage were unsuccessful.

But Diaz, younger brother of also-durable UFC welterweight Nick Diaz, didn’t give up. Sure enough, the momentum shifted in the second round.

“I had him on the cage, and I was like, ‘You’re not the same now, are you?’” he told UFC commentators Jay Glazer, Brian Stann, Dominick Cruz and Frankie Edgar. “And then I put a knee on his stomach, and I heard him go, ‘Hooh.’ And I went, ‘Yeah.’

“All of a sudden, he was shooting for a takedown, and I’m like, ‘Oh, you’re a wrestler now? Remember, I’m the black belt in jiu-jitsu. And you’re shooting on me now? This is a wrap.’”

It was indeed a wrap when Diaz (19-10 MMA, 14-8 UFC) rocked McGregor (19-3 MMA, 7-1 UFC) with a punch and then cinched a rear-naked choke, sending one of the UFC’s biggest stars back to Earth four months after Holly Holm upset Ronda Rousey (who went on to lose her title to Miesha Tate in UFC 196’s co-headliner).

According to UFC President Dana White, Diaz could now move on to face UFC welterweight champ Robbie Lawler (27-10 MMA, 12-4 UFC), an opponent likely reserved for McGregor had he won the pay-per-view main event at Las Vegas MGM Grand Garden Arena.

Much was made of Diaz’s lack of a training camp leading into the fight, with the veteran getting just 10 days to prepare after lightweight champ Rafel dos Anjos withdrew due to a broken foot. White stepped to Diaz’s defense in the buildup to UFC 196, responding to questions of whether McGregor was getting a favorable matchup against a fighter who wasn’t fully prepared to face him. Diaz was training for a triathlon, he said.

Diaz, though, said he does a lot more than jog, bike and swim with his free time.

“On my worst day, I’ll train for two hours,” he said. “I don’t have too many hobbies. I’m always working, always training. When I’m eating junk food and partying or whatever you want to call it, I’ll wake up, and I’ll train the next day. It’s been like that since I started. I think I train harder than the hardest workers in the offseason.”

Plus, he added, when you’re not given the push of a star such as McGregor, you’ve got to make up the difference with your performances.

“I’ve got to put in a lot of work, and there ain’t no push, so I’m going to make it mine,” he said. “I know I’m a better fighter than him.”

Without much time to spar in preparation for McGregor, he said afterward, he was surprised that he took so much damage during the fight. The only thing he was certain of was that it would take him a while to warm up.

Diaz said his plan was similar to one he employed for a submission win over Kurt Pellegrino in 2008, in that he planned to be more offensive in the second round.

“I usually don’t get touched by that (left hand), but I knew I was going to start off slow and pick up as I go,” Diaz said.

Diaz’s attack wasn’t the only thing that shifted as a result of the fight. Beforehand, he bashed McGregor’s flashy displays of wealth and favor with the promotion in press conferences. But afterward, he couldn’t fault the champ for making the most of his situation.

“The guy did a great job,” he said. “Like, if I’m getting all that, too, I’m like, ‘Sorry, everybody, you should have been at the right place, right time.’ I got the chance to take that right place, right time, and I took it as quickly as I could. Because if I passed it up, I was never going to get that.”

After a rocky start, Diaz definitely seized the moment. It might have been one that shocked the audience, but he foresaw it in the days before he earned the biggest win of his professional career.

“I was watching his fights, and I was like, he keeps his pressure, and these guys break,” Diaz said. “And that was the same pressure I keep, only less. The pressure that I put on these people, at a certain point, they just fall off.

“When you put the UFC roster on the mountain, these guys think they’re tough, and we all run up that mountain, I’ll bet you I’m going to be at the top of that mountain, and probably see my brother up there.”

For more on UFC 196, check out the UFC Events section of the site.