Nate Diaz says he might take a thrashing from Conor McGregor at UFC 196, but the Stockton product is willing to go out on his shield.
Not many are expecting Conor McGregor vs. Nate Diaz to go the distance at UFC 196. Diaz is known for his brawling style and McGregor can end a fight in an instant with his sniping left hand.
Both men will collide in a welterweight bout on March 5th, which will mark McGregor’s 170-pound debut, and Diaz says there’s a possibility he could get “murked” when the cage door closes.
The Stockton product was brutally honest in a video uploaded by TMZ on Tuesday (h/t MMA Fighting).
“I think you should beat everybody on your worst day, but you can never be ready enough for a fight anyway,” Diaz said. “Might get murked. Don’t care, though. It’s all good. Or he might.”
The 30-year-old has only been knocked out once in his MMA career and has been credited for his iron chin and mental toughness. Diaz’ corner threw in the towel after Josh Thomson landed a devastating head kick and unloaded a flurry of ground-and-pound at UFC on FOX 7.
Conor McGregor was originally supposed to challenge Rafael dos Anjos for the lightweight title in his pursuit to become the UFC’s first-ever simultaneous two-division champion, but the Brazilian was forced to pull out of the bout due to injury. Diaz was selected as the last-minute replacement and the former lightweight title challenger wishes he had more time to prepare.
“It would have been nice to get a camp,” Diaz said. “It’s all good, whatever. I’ve went to camps, trained hard and fought like sh*t. Three weeks later, after eating as much as I want, hanging out, not doing nothing, came in and whooped everybody’s ass in the gym anyway. So we’ll see what happens.”
The UFC 196 PPV, which will see McGregor and Diaz square off in the main event, takes place on March 5th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.