Today marks the nine-year anniversary of one of the greatest underdog victories in UFC history; when Nate Diaz shocked the world with a ‘Notorious’ submission.
The year is 2016 and UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor is preparing to face lightweight champion Rafael Dos Anjos in the hope of claiming a second world title.
Yet only a few weeks before that champ vs champ showdown, RDA withdraws from the event with a broken foot, and in his place, the UFC calls on promotional veteran Nate Diaz.
Nine years ago today: Nate Diaz choked out Conor McGregor
Whilst Diaz was widely seen as one of the best lightweights in the world, the Californian was also viewed as somewhat of a gatekeeper; having gone 2-2 after his sole world title defeat to Benson Henderson in 2012.
On the contrary, Conor McGregor was flying high as the undisputed featherweight champion, with his legendary 13-second knockout over Jose Aldo Jr having arrived only a few months earlier.
To put it bluntly, McGregor was expected to walkthrough Diaz, with a whopping 77% of Tapology Community Picks going in favor of the Irishman – the majority of whom were predicting another ‘Notorious’ TKO win.
The first round largely went that way, with McGregor’s sharp striking opening up one, two, too many cuts around Diaz’s face to keep track of… Yet in the second, things started to take a turn.
Around three minutes into round two, Diaz landed a stunning left hand that badly wobbled the featherweight champion. Over the next two minutes, Diaz continued to walk through fire to tag McGregor again, and again, and again.
The seasoned striker would then shoot for a takedown which, against a submission specialist like Diaz, was essentially a death sentence – the Stockton native pummelled away from top position and when the opportunity arose, locked up his now-infamous rear-naked choke.
Reaction to Nate Diaz submitting McGregor shows the scale of the upset
It’s safe to say that the wider MMA world collectively lost its mind when McGregor tapped to the RNC, with Dana White later labeling the contest as “pretty much the biggest fight ever.
“This is what this thing was built to be, and it lived up to everything that it was supposed to be, it was awesome.”
Andre Fili took to X to write “The entire room just lost their minds,” while Jorge Masvidal teased that he owed Diaz “a steak dinner for that one.”
“Wow what a night! Anything can happen in this sport, what a difference a couple months, weeks, days can make. This is why I love my sport!” wrote Stefan Struve, with Derek Brunson also chiming in: “MMA is a crazy sport, there’s no sport like it!”
Tapology currently ranks Diaz vs McGregor 1 as the 35th greatest fight in history, the 9th greatest submission of all time, and the eighth biggest upset in the history of the promotion.