It pains me to write this, but write it I must. For the show must go on!
Last week, following Nate Diaz’s shocking second round destruction of Conor McGregor at UFC 196, several fans of the Irishman found it difficult to accept the reality of the situation.
One airhead in particular, with a fanbase legion of similar airheads, Instagrammed a photo of McGregor with the caption, “Still the champ.”
Which, technically, is true, since McGregor wasn’t fighting for a UFC belt. His stock, however, certainly plummeted from the insane heights at which it had been hovering until then.
Earlier today (Friday, March 11), “Extra’s” Charissa Thompson, who looks like she knows about as much about mixed martial arts as a cat knows about giving fucks, was at Universal Studios Hollywood to interview the man who derailed the hype train.
Thompson asked a surprisingly polite and friendly Nate Diaz for his reaction to the Instagram and his answer generated the sort of laughs one might have expected from a 1960s sitcom laugh track.
“Smack!” says Diaz, pantomiming the famous Stockton slap. “Nah, it’s all good, Bieber’s all good, it’s whatever.”
His brother Nick posted a more ambiguous reaction on Instagram.
The veteran UFC fighter said he did notice several celebrities sharing their disappointment in his victory, but added they’re probably not terribly informed (or in the case of Bieber, bright).
“Oh yeah I saw [Bieber] and Drake, too, they put their opinions out. But they must not be too hardcore fans of the sport because they’re riding a bandwagon, you know what I mean? Hey, this America. But the real fighters, real martial artists and the real fans of this sport knew who was gonna win that fight.”
Diaz pronounced himself the new King following his “I’m not surprised motherfuckers” post-fight speech (see the remix here). But will McGregor try and avenge the loss and reclaim his crown?
“We’ll see what happens, time will tell. I don’t know what they wanna do, what he wants to do, if he wants a rematch, if they want a rematch. But they don’t usually do too much rematches so… but depending on circumstances they might be a little bit different.”
As for the retirement rumors, Diaz also laughed that one off.
Who would you like to see the “new King” fight next? Fly to the comment section, my pretties, and sound off!