Nate Diaz’s ‘Stockton Slap’ on Conor McGregor might have done more damage than we thought

The Diaz brothers' signature move is the infamous Stockton Slap.

They're known for dishing out this good old-fashioned slap across the chops of their opponent during a fight. We've seen Nick pull it out against the likes of Robbie Lawler and Carlos Condit and we saw Nate tag Conor McGregor with it at UFC 196. Nate slapped McGregor around the face no less than four times during their welterweight clash which ended with the Irishman's first UFC defeat. On the surface it's a physiological weapon. A tool to get under the skin of your opponent. What could be worse than you throwing every one of your biggest shots at Diaz only for him to b*tch slap you and grin back in your face? It can work to enrage your opponent and bring them forward, swinging straight onto your shots - or break their heart, like it seemed to do with McGregor. But Fightland's Jack Slack reckons there's more to the Stockton Slap than just a show-boating irritant. Slack says Nate uses the long, lazy slap in the same way that boxers like Muhammed Ali would 'cuff' their opponents. Instead of bringing the hook full round to connect with the heavily padded area of the glove, Ali would 'slap' his opponents with the inside of the glove near the palm and wrist which had thin padding. The same can be said for Diaz catching McGregor with the inside of the 4oz gloves. But most interesting is how damaging an open-handed slap can actually be in mixed martial arts. Far from being just a way to emasculate and antagonise an opponent, landing a solid slap can disrupt a fighter's balance, rhythm and coordination. A slap around the ear can also damage or even rupture the eardrum as it pushes pressurised air into the ear canal, blowing their equilibrium and leaving them dazed. It's hard to tell whether Diaz's slaps had any physical effect on McGregor during the fight, with the Notorious taking so many shots in the latter part of the second round. It's totally unquantifiable. With three minutes left Diaz lands a slap which stops McGregor in his tracks and makes him grin. What followed was a crucial 60 seconds where the fight swung in Diaz's favour. He starts getting through with the straight shots before he rocks the featherweight champion with a right hand that staggers him. Diaz piles in, but with McGregor clearly rocked and on the back foot, he throws another slap at him. McGregor never really recovers and shoots for the takedown after getting rocked by another Diaz shot. It was only going to end one way on the ground. Whether the Stockton Slap is just a good wind-up shot, or whether it can do any real damage in a fight is debatable. But Diaz is stronger for having it in his arsenal.