Jake Shields: “Conor just didn’t have the heart Nate had. Diaz let him beat him up in round 1”

Although Nate Diaz proved victorious in the main event of UFC 196, the ‘Stockton Slugger’ still suffered quite a bit of damage in his epic second-round submission victory over featherweight champion Conor McGregor.

Diaz’s ‘Scrap Pack’ teammate Jake Shields admitted to Sherdog Radio that Nate got a little more busted up than the team had hoped for in the first round of the UFC 196 main event fight. But Shields insists that he was never worried about Nate and that getting ‘beat up’ was all part of the game plan. His words:

“I think that’s why Nate kind of cruised through round one because he was a little worried about blowing himself out…so he didn’t really put any pressure on until the second. That’s why he kind of let Conor beat him up a little bit,” Shields said. “Obviously Conor landed some better shots than he wanted, but Nate’s game plan was not to do much in round one, let Conor go crazy and then come back and start beating him up in rounds two and three. We were thinking it was going to take until round three, but Conor just didn’t have the heart Nate had. Conor’s a great fighter, but he hasn’t been in the wars Nate has. Nate’s experienced; he knows how to dig deep when it’s time.”

What do you make of former UFC welterweight title challenger Jake Shields most recent comments? Do you believe Nate Diaz actually planned to have a slow first-round in order to tire out Conor McGregor in the main event of UFC 196? Sound off Penn Nation!