Nate Diaz Wants To Remind You He’s Only One Class Above Conor McGregor
After throughly throttling Conor McGregor by second-round submission in the main event of March 5’s monumental UFC 196 from Las Vegas, Nate Diaz isn’t exactly pleased with how the attention has still gone to the popular Irishman despite his stoppage loss.
He’s now rumored to rematch McGregor in the main event of UFC 200, and the buzz for that fight is already building (even if a lot of it comes in the form of backlash).
Making the media rounds with several appearances this week, Diaz described how the inaccurate portrayal of McGregor moving up two weight classes bothers him on ESPN’s SportsNation:
In the interview, Diaz spoke up about McGregor’s perceived move up to welterweight, where he met Diaz on short notice, to face champion Robbie Lawler. But the popular veteran said that is unlikely despite all the credit McGregor’s been given, as he is a natural lightweight:
“Yeah, it does bother me. He was already talking about going up and fighting the welterweight champ and taking him out and even fighting at 185 and all these things. When he lost the fight, he’s getting all this credit for going up two weight classes. But I’m really only one weight class above him. I’m a lightweight.
“I’m only one class ahead of him. He’s moving up and he already talked about being the welterweight champ. Now he fought a lightweight contender and he’s talking he went up two weight classes.”
As for the rematch, Diaz understandably questioned if McGregor would be able to sell the fight with as much quote-worthy smack talk now that his previous aura of invincibility has dissipated:
“He’s got his little moves, so he’s probably got a bunch of stuff lined up. But there’s not much to say.”
With one stoppage win over McGregor already, it’s tough to argue that the Irishman’s brash brand of trash talk will have the same effect the second time around, and there are also some serious questions about his ground game, an area Diaz where clearly excels.
Overall, it appears the UFC is going to go with Diaz vs. McGregor II in UFC 200’s main event, so for better or worse, McGregor is going to have to learn how to deal with iron-chinned Diaz’s multitude of ways to stop a fight.
Will he be able to in four months’ time?
