This was the first time Conor McGregor freely admitted his respect for an opponent since he joined the UFC.
Amid talk of toy balloons, steroid use and teaching Sunday morning Jiu-Jitsu, Nate Diaz finally had one of his claims backed up.
Diaz, who will fight McGregor at UFC 196, told reporters last December that the UFC had sought him out as a late replacement for Jose Aldo at UFC 189.
Soon after, Diaz also said an agreement had been made with the promotion and he would be the next fighter up for The Notorious after he eventually faced and beat Aldo at UFC 194.
But when a lightweight title shot against Rafael Dos Anjos was lined up, both of Diaz’s claims seemed false.
Last night, however, the truth emerged. It was Diaz, not the unsuccessful Chad Mendes, that McGregor wanted a crack at. Diaz said:
“They were like, ‘McGregor only wants to fight you. That’s all he wants, is you’.”
To this, McGregor smiled, nodded his head and responded:
“I do. I’m looking forward to it, so let’s do it… I felt pity on your broke ass. I wanted to make you rich at UFC 189.”
The problem for Diaz, a 13-year veteran of the professional fight game, was that the UFC were not prepared to make him rich enough. He proclaimed:
“They gave me a f*ck load of money [to fight McGregor at UFC 189] and you know what I said? I said, ‘I want more of that sh*t’.
“How about that, motherf*cker?”
So, McGregor has been eyeing up a fight with Diaz for some time. If he gets by him, next Saturday, it may well set up a 2017 fight with older brother Nick.
