For the first time since he stormed into the UFC, Conor McGregor is up against an opponent that revels in mind games and verbal warfare.
In the lead-up to UFC 196, Nate Diaz landed some good shots on McGregor in the press outings and interviews – hitting on issues like steroids, McGregor’s training partner and his featherweight belt comfort blanket. Sure, The Notorious had a few jibes of his own but Diaz left some marks.
At Wednesday’s final UFC 202 press conference, the Californian had a plan if McGregor showed up late, as he normally does. He wasn’t hanging around for his opponent, especially after he showed up 20 minutes after the scheduled time.
The bottle-throwing that followed was surely not planned but the walk out certainly was.
Backstage footage of the press conference aftermath shows a McGregor we have rarely seen before – rattled, distracted, livid.
As UFC president Dana White and Dave Scholler, vice president of PR, escort him to the back, McGregor is apoplectic:
McGregor: What’s he getting out of here for? We had to face off.
“We had to keep it going… the little fool!
“Let me go [back] out. I want to see what’s going on.”
Scholler: “I know where your head is at right now. Chill. Saturday night is two nights away.”
McGregor: “Fuck! Get me out of this fucking… Why did he get out of here? We could have just faced off and kept it going. Why did he storm off?
“I’m going to kill yer man. Seriously, I’m going to bleedin’ burst yer man. Ahhhh, fuck all that, fuck all that! Serious man. Fuck’s sake.
“Seriously, it’s on now. Ahhhh.”
The remainder of the latest UFC Embedded episode, released this morning, features Nick Diaz giving his side of events, Nate loving the reaction to events and Gilbert Melendez praising the brothers’ decision to bounce.
At Thursday night’s open work-outs, the Diaz exit was the hot topic but McGregor wasn’t having any of it.
“Fuck Team Diaz and if you’re with Team Diaz, fuck you too.” he told the watching crowd.
Mic drop and he was gone.
The Irishman is used to writing and performing the scripts.
But right now, he’s reacting to them.
Can Conor McGregor avenge his UFC 196 defeat or will Nate Diaz prove too much for him again? Let us know your thoughts.
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