Nate Diaz was very much on the table as a potential opponent for Conor McGregor at UFC 189. But McGregor’s coach wasn’t too into the idea.
When news hit last week that Jose Aldo was injured and might have to pull out of the July 11 main event, Diaz was one of the names bandied about, along with Chad Mendes and Frankie Edgar. Mendes ended up being the UFC’s contingency plan — and now he’ll be McGregor’s opponent with the UFC featherweight champion officially withdrawing from the bout Tuesday.
Kavanagh is likely very much OK with that, especially since McGregor-Mendes will be for the interim featherweight title. The coach told Ariel Helwani on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour that he would prefer a title fight over anything else.
“The belt,” Kavanagh said. “The Diaz fight was thrown out there. That was like, C’mon, the trash talk. That’s not a big part of what I’m interested in. I’m a fan of mixed martial arts. However, it would have been interesting. It would be hard not to find that fun.”
McGregor told Helwani on Tuesday at the Reebok press conference that Diaz was an option only if Aldo would have been ready to go for UFC 191 on Sept. 5 in Las Vegas. McGregor would have fought Diaz at 155 pounds instead of making the cut all the way down to 145. The Irishman didn’t want to cut down to 145 twice in a span of two months, so he was willing to fight Diaz at lightweight.
“Who’s game to step up and fight?” McGregor said. “Who brings it? Nate brings it. The Diaz brothers bring it. They show up to fight. The interest in it would remain high. You could bring in another 155er or another 145er, but is the pay-per-view draws going to be as good? I don’t think so. So Nate was an interest for me at 155 and the fact that the fight would generate big buzz as well.”
Kavanagh actually thought Edgar would be the man getting the call, but the UFC chose Mendes instead.
“I think [Edgar] has had a tougher lead up,” Kavanagh said. “He had four wins against tougher opposition than Mendes has faced. I guess the Mendes fight, the bad blood, the angle of it. I’m sure it was a tight decision to go between the No. 1 and the No. 2.”
Not that it mattered to McGregor. Kavanagh said when he told him Mendes would be the backup plan per the UFC, McGregor told him, “They’re all the same.”
“I still think people don’t get really get how Conor is,” Kavanagh said. “I’m genuinely saying this: He would fight both of those guys in the same night. It’s all he’s interested in is fighting, whether it’s training for it or competing in it or reading about it or studying it or watching it or talking about it. It’s one thing that has taken up his life.
“Whether it was going to be Edgar or Mendes or Aldo, it’s not disrespectful to say he he’d like to fight all three of them,” Kavanagh said. “It’s an enjoyment thing. It’s an excitement thing.”
McGregor did want Aldo to fight. It would have been the bigger fight from a money perspective and, of course, Aldo is the champion. But McGregor has adapted nicely to all the fluidity of the situation and never once considered coming off the card with thousands of Irish people flying in for UFC 189.
“If you’re not comfortable with change, I don’t think MMA is for you, because dates change, opponents change, styles change,” Kavanagh said. “Media obligations. Every day is very new. You have to just kind of roll with it and not get attached to any particular thing.”