Nate Diaz isn’t impressed that he’s getting no praise for beating Conor McGregor at UFC 196, and that Conor’s getting a rematch so quickly.
Nate Diaz isn’t happy. This comes as a shock to nearly no one, but he does have some valid points this time. Diaz defeated Conor McGregor decisively in the UFC 196 headliner, but is rematching him just a few months later. Diaz has nine losses in his career, and has never been given an immediate rematch. In fact, he’s only received one rematch ever – against Gray Maynard – and it took him three years to secure that.
So when he was asked by Yahoo Sports if his respect for Conor has increased since he’d like the fight to be under the same conditions as the first (at 170 pounds), Nate predictably blew up:
“[Expletive] no, it doesn’t,” Diaz said. “[Expletive] no! I’m sick of hearing this shit. Everybody’s talking that. Even [UFC president] Dana White is pushing it out there that they admire this. Yeah, 100 percent he wants redemption, but guess what? I’ve been 100 percent on redeeming myself in every loss I’ve had. They were like, ‘Don’t even call. You’re not getting a rematch.’ It wasn’t even a consideration. I don’t want to hear any more praise about that [expletive] wanting a rematch. Or course he wants a rematch, which is how you should be if you get your ass whipped by anyone.
“If you don’t feel like that, you shouldn’t even be in this [expletive] game. Redeem himself? [Expletive] no! He’s lucky he’s getting a second chance. Me and a lot of other people who have lost before have never gotten that second chance. One and done. Lose a fight and you’ll never see that guy again. I wanted 10 rematches and I didn’t get those. So [expletive] no. He’s like a spoiled little kid. He should be thanking me for this [expletive] rematch.”
In a different interview with ESPN, he expanded on why he thinks Conor was granted the bout, and doubled down on the immediate rematch issue:
“I swear to God, the UFC thinks it was an accident or something. They think it was an accident, and now they’re saying, ‘Let’s get Nate back in there and take him out before he gets any bigger.'”
…
“Since that last fight, have you heard any praise for me from Dana or the UFC? None at all,” Diaz told ESPN.com. “How much praise has that m—–f—– got? I’ve never lost a fight and not wanted to fight the guy 10 minutes later. The UFC is pumping him up again, saying he wants to redeem himself and giving him all this credit for it. It’s like, dude, I’ve been obsessed with every fight I’ve ever lost. This is a gift for him to get it right away.
“He’s saying he’s obsessed? Welcome to my life, m—–f—–. That’s the game, and I’ve never gotten my losses back.”
I’m sure we’ll hear much, much from from Diaz and McGregor in the run-up to their UFC 200 bout on July 9th. This is just the tip of the iceberg.