Conor McGregor To Nate Diaz: ‘We’ll See The Next Time’
It’s beginning to look like the Conor McGregor vs. Nate Diaz rematch will be taking place at this July’s UFC 200 pay-per-view. As of today, the fight hasn’t yet been confirmed. But McGregor pretty much implied that the fight will be taking place this summer in his latest Instagram post.
The current UFC featherweight champ posted a photo showing him drilling Nate Diaz in the face with a solid left hand, with a caption that said: “It was a good knock. Enjoy it. We’ll see the next time.”
Nate Diaz’s win over Conor McGregor at UFC 196 turned him into a superstar, and his next fight, whoever it’s with, will almost certainly draw a lot of attention.
Before the McGregor vs. Diaz for UFC 200 reports began to come out, there was some talk of having Diaz face either Robbie Lawler for the UFC welterweight championship or having him face the current lightweight champion, Rafael dos Anjos, in a rematch.
Some also expected, because of his insanely large payoff at UFC 196, that Nate Diaz would take quite a bit of time off, much like his brother Nick Diaz did after his fight with Georges St. Pierre. But, it appears that’s not going to be the case.
After his loss to Diaz, Conor McGregor had quite a few options. One of them was going back down to 145 pounds and defending his featherweight championship against either Jose Aldo or Frankie Edgar. Another option was going to 155 pounds and challenging for the lightweight title, which is what he was originally supposed to do at UFC 196. Although challenging for a title coming off of a loss wouldn’t be the most logical thing, it has happened in the past.
In an interview with TMZ, McGregor said that he was open to fighting the opponent that he could make the most money with, and if that opponent was Nate Diaz, then he’d be willing to have a rematch with him.
“I think I’d like to see (a rematch with Nate Diaz), yeah? I mean, it’s one that interests me, most certainly. You know, when I look at the fight I was winning the fight. I won the first round and a half, I feel. I’d love to get that one back. We’ll see how it goes. Money talks. Life is good.”
When ESPN‘s SportsNation asked Diaz about a potential rematch with McGregor and what kind of trash he expects the UFC featherweight champ to talk leading up to the fight, he pretty much made it clear that there’s not really much that McGregor can say to him now.
“He’s got his little moves, so he’s probably got a bunch of stuff lined up. But there is not much to say.”
Diaz was also asked about his strategy leading into a potential rematch with McGregor, and he jokingly said that he should probably not even do a training camp leading up to the fight, because it worked out so well for him the first time around.
It is looking like we’re heading into another Nate Diaz vs. Conor McGregor showdown this summer. It also looks like the fight will, once again, take place at 170 pounds. Whether that’s good or bad for McGregor remains to be seen, but it wasn’t good for him the first time around.
In McGregor’s defense, he wasn’t accustomed to fighting at 170 pounds, so his gas tank wasn’t as full as it usually is when he fights at featherweight. It’ll be interesting to see if he can put together a better performance in a rematch with Nate Diaz at UFC 200 this coming July.
(Featured image via Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images)
