John Kavanagh Wants Interesting Date For McGregor vs. Diaz 3
We may have just discovered the possible date for Conor McGregor’s next fight.
A trilogy fight with Nate Diaz is currently the frontrunner for McGregor’s next fight. The belief is that the bout could sell north of 2 million buys with the bump McGregor gets from his bout with Mayweather.
As we noted earlier on the site, there was a report that surfaced over the last week that a trilogy fight between Diaz and McGregor was scheduled for the UFC 219 pay-per-view event in December in Las Vegas. However, UFC President Dana White has since taken to his official Twitter account to shoot down the rumor.
SBG Dublin head coach John Kavanagh believes that the third fight will take place in 2018, not this year. He recently did an interview during the Original Penguin AW17 collection launch to which he revealed his plans.
“If it was my choice, and I must stress that this is only my choice and that doesn’t mean it’s going to happen, it would be Nate Diaz in March,” Kavanagh said (via MMA Fighting). “That’s what I would push towards.”
“I have in my head that it would be a Paddy’s Day card in New York, Nate Diaz 3. I think that would be absolutely amazing. That’s what I would wish for. That’s what I’ll be leaning towards with my 0.1 percent influence when I meet with Conor and Audie (Attar) tomorrow. I want Diaz 3, Paddy’s Day in New York.”
The public has criticized the UFC lightweight champion for not wanting to defend his belts in the past. Kavanagh believes that McGregor is now in the position to choose his next opponent.
“At this stage, I mention Diaz and people are shouting, ‘What about Khabib?’ or, ‘What about Tony?’ … And there’s Kevin Lee and some other guys, (people say) ‘They’re due their shot!’”
Their first fight went down at UFC 196 with Diaz emerging victorious via submission (rear-naked choke).
“Really, Conor doesn’t have to do that anymore. He won the featherweight belt, interim and unified,” Kavanagh said. “He won the lightweight belt. At this stage, he’s only doing fights because they’re fun. A big fight build-up and to win that — that will do for me anyway.”
Before his boxing match with Mayweather, McGregor put on a great performance at UFC 205 which saw him claim the UFC lightweight championship by knocking out Eddie Alvarez. On the flip side, Diaz has not been seen inside the world-famous Octagon since his controversial majority decision loss to McGregor at UFC 202 in August of 2016.
“For a bunch of reasons (Diaz is the right fight). It’s not just about being the right guy — that’s all amateur level. This is professional, and it’s about entertainment.”
