Late last week, news started leaking that Conor McGregor had decided on what he wanted to do for his next fight. Rather than return to featherweight and defend his belt, the Irish superstar wanted a rematch with Nate Diaz at UFC 200. McGregor and Diaz just threw down at UFC 196 on March 5, with Diaz coming back from a bad first round to choke McGregor out.
According to MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani, Conor was “obsessed” with the loss and feels like the rematch is a fight that he can win. Interestingly enough, it’s being set up at 170 pounds again, even though Diaz typically fights at lightweight. Here’s a behind the scenes clip from Nate’s appearance on UFC tonight complaining about it:
https://twitter.com/GrabakaHitman/status/712787708976959488
“If there’s a second fight, I’ll fight at 55,” he said. “I’d like to be in shape. I don’t want to hear it. I don’t want to hear no excuses. I’ll make 55. I was planning on making 55 last time.”
But the younger Diaz brother definitely sounds like he wants the fight.
“It’s a real fight. People want to see it. When you get a real fight, people appreciate it. If he wants it and UFC wants it, let’s run it back. If not, whatever. I’m here to fight the best fighters in the world.”
Meanwhile, in Ireland, Conor’s coach John Kavanagh said he thinks a fight will be announced soon.
“I believe it is going to be announced this week,” Kavanagh said during an interview on Whoacast. “And whoever it is, there will be a group of fans that will go ‘Oh I didn’t want to see that, I wanted to see this.’ You know, no matter who you pick, there are gonna be people happy and there are gonna be people unhappy.”
All signs point to McGregor vs. Diaz at UFC 200. Now we just have to wait for the official word.
