Nate Diaz caused a stir on Wednesday during a press conference for his upcoming bout with Conor McGregor at UFC 196 on March 5, claiming “everybody” inside the organisation, including McGregor, is on steroids.
As shared by MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani, the Irishman quickly distanced himself from those allegations and reminded Diaz of Gilbert Melendez and Jake Shields, two of the American’s team-mates who have tested positive for steroids:
Wednesday’s press conference was the first time the two fighters engaged in verbal warfare ahead of their upcoming bout, and neither held back. Per UFC Europe, McGregor hit back as hard as he could (Warning: Language is NSFW):
Diaz’s allegations were serious and aimed especially at McGregor, and it will only add even more fuel to what should already be an explosive battle inside the Octagon.
Diaz got the chance to fight McGregor after Rafael dos Anjos, the UFC lightweight champion, had to withdraw from his bout with the Irishman at UFC 196 because of an injury, per Helwani.
As reported by MMA Mania’s Adrian MacNair (Warning: Link contains NSFW language), Diaz previously called out McGregor after a win over Michael Johnson in December, and the bad blood between the two fighters made the proposed fight an easy sale.
Since UFC 196 takes place on March 5, the two have precious little time to get their verbal shots in, so the heated tone of Wednesday’s presser shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. Few will have predicted Diaz would bring up steroids, however.
Diaz didn’t hold back with his other comments, either, per BT Sport UFC:
But perhaps unsurprisingly, it was the current UFC featherweight champion who stole the show, showing he doesn’t need a lot of time to prepare when someone puts a microphone in front of him:
Fans can only hope the bout between these two will be as entertaining as the war of words we’ve seen so far, and considering this pair’s history, expect Diaz and McGregor to carry on talking up until UFC 196.
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