Title shot, shmitle shot.
Nate Diaz has a better idea for Conor McGregor, assuming the featherweight champ goes up to lightweight. The idea’s not half bad, either.
McGregor, who earlier this month promised to move up to 155 pounds even after knocking out Jose Aldo, was supposed to get an immediate date for the belt if he made good on his pledge.
But that was before Diaz dismantled the heavily favored Michael Johnson over three convincing rounds Saturday night at UFC on Fox 17 to take a unanimous-decision win and re-establish himself as a force in the lightweight division.
And it was most definitely before Diaz‘s post-fight interview in the cage with broadcaster Joe Rogan. As the event aired on Fox, nearly all the audio was bleeped out. Luckily for completists out there, though, the online stream did no such censoring. That audio is here (language NSFW):
Uncensored Nate Diaz pic.twitter.com/inP5UDo4LG
— Seán Sheehan (@SeanSheehanBA) December 20, 2015
For those less inclined toward profanity, the censored version of Diaz‘s comments went something like this:
F*** that. Conor McGregor, you’re taking everything I worked for, m*****f***er. I’m gonna fight your f***in’ a**. You know what the real money fight is. It’s me! F*** these clowns that you already punked at the press conference. Don’t no one want to see that. …You want that real sh** right here.
In keeping with Diaz tradition, some of the meaning in Diaz‘s words is unclear. However, two things appear fairly discernible.
First, Diaz wants to fight McGregor and thinks the fight would give them both a big payday. He is probably not wrong in this.
Second, the part about the people McGregor “punked at the press conference” probably refers to lightweight champ Rafael dos Anjos and Donald Cerrone, both of whom verbally tangled with McGregor at a media event this fall.
As it happens, Dos Anjos and Cerrone fought in Saturday’s main event, with Dos Anjos defending his title with a 66-second TKO of Cerrone. That outcome may have had the twofold effect of rendering Dos Anjos an excessively dangerous opponent for McGregor and neutralizing Cerrone (at least for now) as a formidable foil for the Irishman.
That leaves Diaz.
Though all signs seem to indicate that McGregor will, indeed, move up, it’s uncertain whom he might face. Big fights with big names like Frankie Edgar could also be made at featherweight. So we shall see.
But it’s always interesting when a Diaz brother throws his hat in the ring, especially after a performance like that. (See Nate’s brother Nick and that whole Georges St-Pierre thing.)
At a minimum, the call-out appeared to get the attention of McGregor‘s coach, John Kavanagh.
Absorbing that many shots would make it a very very short night if he was to meet a real hitter #BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor
— Coach Kavanagh (@John_Kavanagh) December 20, 2015
McGregor is not one to back down from a challenge, though the UFC will obviously need to weigh in. But given the built-in heat in this one, UFC officials may be seeing dollar signs.
The 30-year-old Diaz is now 18-10 in pro MMA. This was his first fight since December of last year, when he lost to Dos Anjos.
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