“I think it was less of Dustin doing anything great and more of Conor f*cking up”.
Nate Diaz credited Dustin Poirier for his TKO win over Conor McGregor at UFC 257 but The Ultimate Fighter 5 winner wasn’t overly impressed with ‘The Diamond’s’ performance.
Poirier executed the perfect gameplan against McGregor, chopping the Irishman down with calf kicks before finishing him in the second round with a brutal flurry of punches against the fence.
Diaz, however, doesn’t quite see it that way. The Stockton local believes McGregor lost due to repeating the same mistakes he made against the former at UFC 196 and in his boxing match with Floyd Mayweather in August 2017.
“I think it was less of Dustin doing anything great and more of Conor f*cking up,” Diaz told ESPN, claiming that McGregor gassed early because he was too eager for the finish (transcript via MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck). “That’s my personal opinion. I think he was wearing them shots. It looked pretty in the bag to me. I thought [McGregor] f*cked up. I think he still makes the same mistakes he always has.”
The UFC is now reportedly looking to book a trilogy bout between Poirier and McGregor but Diaz is sick of ‘The Notorious’ being ‘gifted rematches’ and getting preferential treatment by the UFC.
“They’re trying to bring [Conor] back from the dead? They always talk about my record and how I have 11 losses. I’ve tried to rematch all of those losses. Never would they even consider it. ‘Don’t even ask, you lost.’ And 95 percent of them were all decision losses that were hardly lost. Most of them I won so why would it be so out of the question for me to have a rematch with somebody now?
“But this guy gets finished by me, he gets finished by Khabib. They built up this whole Dustin Poirier fight to get the rematch with Khabib and then he lost to him and now they’re talking about a rematch. This guy is just gonna get gifted rematches? That’s crazy to me. And I think Conor is great and he does his thing, but it’s all about timing and, like I said, it’s starting to align right now, dog. It’s time for something different. You’re gonna try and keep this show going for him? That’s cool if that’s what you’re gonna do. Why should he get a rematch after getting finished hella quick?”
Diaz is expected to return to the UFC later this year to take on either Dustin Poirier or Charles Oliveira at 170 pounds.