Before facing Conor McGregor at UFC 196 on March 5, Nate Diaz claimed he was being held back by his employers. Both he and older brother Nick had voiced their displeasure with UFC contracts long before many other had the guts to do so. Although Nate fought on through his issues, Nick Diaz spent a
Before facing Conor McGregor at UFC 196 on March 5, Nate Diaz claimed he was being held back by his employers. Both he and older brother Nick had voiced their displeasure with UFC contracts long before many other had the guts to do so. Although Nate fought on through his issues, Nick Diaz spent a considerable amount of time inactive while waiting for a better offer from the UFC. Fast forward to present day, and both men are superstars. Their cult following has expanded to the point the UFC can no longer ‘hold them back,’ as Nate often put it.
When Diaz was victorious over McGregor at UFC 196, he punched his ticket to another massive payday in August. Although McGregor won a narrow decision at UFC 202, Diaz’s stock had risen if anything. Denied an immediate rematch, Nate decided to follow his older brother’s lead circa 2012 and wait for a big offer. Unfortunately that offer is yet to come, or at least be made public.
Nate’s Ultimatum
According to a report by Ariel Helwani, Nate Diaz isn’t planning on fighting for chump change. Here’s what the popular Stockton bad boy told ‘The MMA Hour’ host:
“I’m only fighting at lightweight for a big fight or 20 million just to take the call,” Diaz told MMAFighting.com “Until then, I’m just living my life.”
Considering he made a disclosed $2.5 million from his fights in 2016, Diaz could ‘live his life’ for some time before actually needing to fight. Will the UFC eventually cave like they did for Nick Diaz? When the promotion finally did give Diaz that big offer, he came through with an amazing rivalry against Georges St-Pierre.
Lightweight
Currently at 155 pounds there are only a few fights to make within the title picture. Obviously Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson need to finally square off. Outside of that, the only real scrap to make is Nate Diaz vs….Eddie Alvarez? Then again, McGregor’s recent comments about possibly coming back in early 2017 lead to some interesting options.
UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor has a tendency to set up his next fight while he is already in the midst of promoting another, and that was no different last month in New York City from Madison Square Garden. Although McGregor had a tough task ahead of him in the form of then-lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez,
UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor has a tendency to set up his next fight while he is already in the midst of promoting another, and that was no different last month in New York City from Madison Square Garden.
Although McGregor had a tough task ahead of him in the form of then-lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez, that didn’t stop ‘The Notorious One’ from setting up a possible welterweight title bout with Tyron Woodley down the road. During the early weigh-ins for the New York card McGregor and Woodley had a brief encounter that later escalated into a verbal war on both Twitter and at the late weigh-ins backstage.
McGregor would go on to defeat Alvarez via second round knockout, while Woodley and his opponent, Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson, would go to a majority draw that resulted in a title retain for ‘The Chosen One’. Both men have expressed interest in fighting one another since the conclusion of the Madison Square Garden event, but Woodley took it to a whole other level during the most recent edition of his YouTube series ‘The Champ Life’ (courtesy of MMA Fighting):
“When he got in my face and I looked at him I said, ‘what’s up?’ At that moment he realized I ain’t that dude. I’m really about that life. I’m really from that life. My family is from that life. I’m actually one of the sharper tools in the box that haven’t been in the streets like that but I have family members, close loved ones, that that’s all they know. So I’ve been around that a lot and I try not to take myself back to those dark areas, I try to stay sophisticated, stay professional but a few people can take you out of that element and bring that Ferguson back out of you and he almost did it. But I had to keep my eyes on the prize, defend my strap in a Fight of the Night performance at UFC 205.
“Now that we got that done – that’s off the table – if Conor want it he can get it. He knows how to get in touch with Dana [White, UFC President], he knows how to get the contract set, and he really don’t want to fight. I’m not saying he should want to fight because I’m not a little dude. I ain’t Nate Diaz. Nate Diaz is not a welterweight. He did not do well at welterweight because he was undersized and these dudes are real gorillas in this weight class.”
Woodley would proceed to warn ‘Mystic Mac’ of the repercussions of moving up dramatically in weight, which included facing men with ‘real power’, as well as threatening to rip the Irish champ’s head off and spew his blood across the Octagon’s canvas:
“If him and his coach John Kavanagh and everybody think that Conor can do well against me and they gas this dude up – you know, he’s a dope fighter but there’s levels to this. When you start going up, it’s like me going up to 205 and challenging guys at that weight. When you come up to this weight brother, it’s real power, it’s real people that will put real hands on you, that’ll put you down to the canvas and you will not get up unless I let you up.
“So if you want to get in there with a lion and get your head bit off and have me spewing your blood all over the octagon while you’ve got that goofy tiger tattoo on your chest, looking like a clown with a clown on your chest, we can do it. We can do it in Ireland, Dublin, we can do it in the back of White Castle, I don’t care. But just know, I ain’t that guy. I don’t like to try and act overly hood or overly ghetto, a million hood stripes, but where I’m from you don’t call me a bitch, number one. Number two, you don’t fake like you’re about that life. If you want to scrap, if you want to make this money, let’s do it. If you don’t, shut your mouth. Just do your thing.”
‘The Chosen One’ remains adamant that he isn’t trying to build his name off of McGregor, but instead has a few other names in mind that he’d like to throw down with in order to help solidify himself as one of the greatest combatants at 170 pounds.
But that doesn’t mean he won’t capitalize on the opportunity if it just so happens to present itself:
“I want you guys to realize this about me, I’m not one of those guys that’s trying to position myself off Conor. I actually got no beef with Conor. He doing his thing, he’s getting what he want to get out of the game and I’m getting what I wanna get out of the game. But it’s a few people that you can step to with that BS and it can slide, I just so happen to not be one of those guys.
“I ain’t trying to build myself off Conor. I’ve got legendary ideas about my career. I want to be a great. There’s about four or five more people I’ve got to beat to solidify that position and that’s my focus and that’s my goal. If he wants to be a stumbling block that gets me to there faster, so be it.”
McGregor is no stranger to competing in the UFC’s welterweight division, as his mini-rivalry with Nate Diaz took place at 170 pounds over a span of six months. The lightweight champ has noticeably bulked up quite a bit since his days at 145 pounds, but is the increased muscle mass enough to allow him to hold his own against the elite of the welterweight division?
You can check out Woodley’s ‘The Champ Life’ episode in which he talks about McGregor here:
UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor has a tendency to set up his next fight while he is already in the midst of promoting another, and that was no different last month in New York City from Madison Square Garden. Although McGregor had a tough task ahead of him in the form of then-lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez,
UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor has a tendency to set up his next fight while he is already in the midst of promoting another, and that was no different last month in New York City from Madison Square Garden.
Although McGregor had a tough task ahead of him in the form of then-lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez, that didn’t stop ‘The Notorious One’ from setting up a possible welterweight title bout with Tyron Woodley down the road. During the early weigh-ins for the New York card McGregor and Woodley had a brief encounter that later escalated into a verbal war on both Twitter and at the late weigh-ins backstage.
McGregor would go on to defeat Alvarez via second round knockout, while Woodley and his opponent, Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson, would go to a majority draw that resulted in a title retain for ‘The Chosen One’. Both men have expressed interest in fighting one another since the conclusion of the Madison Square Garden event, but Woodley took it to a whole other level during the most recent edition of his YouTube series ‘The Champ Life’ (courtesy of MMA Fighting):
“When he got in my face and I looked at him I said, ‘what’s up?’ At that moment he realized I ain’t that dude. I’m really about that life. I’m really from that life. My family is from that life. I’m actually one of the sharper tools in the box that haven’t been in the streets like that but I have family members, close loved ones, that that’s all they know. So I’ve been around that a lot and I try not to take myself back to those dark areas, I try to stay sophisticated, stay professional but a few people can take you out of that element and bring that Ferguson back out of you and he almost did it. But I had to keep my eyes on the prize, defend my strap in a Fight of the Night performance at UFC 205.
“Now that we got that done – that’s off the table – if Conor want it he can get it. He knows how to get in touch with Dana [White, UFC President], he knows how to get the contract set, and he really don’t want to fight. I’m not saying he should want to fight because I’m not a little dude. I ain’t Nate Diaz. Nate Diaz is not a welterweight. He did not do well at welterweight because he was undersized and these dudes are real gorillas in this weight class.”
Woodley would proceed to warn ‘Mystic Mac’ of the repercussions of moving up dramatically in weight, which included facing men with ‘real power’, as well as threatening to rip the Irish champ’s head off and spew his blood across the Octagon’s canvas:
“If him and his coach John Kavanagh and everybody think that Conor can do well against me and they gas this dude up – you know, he’s a dope fighter but there’s levels to this. When you start going up, it’s like me going up to 205 and challenging guys at that weight. When you come up to this weight brother, it’s real power, it’s real people that will put real hands on you, that’ll put you down to the canvas and you will not get up unless I let you up.
“So if you want to get in there with a lion and get your head bit off and have me spewing your blood all over the octagon while you’ve got that goofy tiger tattoo on your chest, looking like a clown with a clown on your chest, we can do it. We can do it in Ireland, Dublin, we can do it in the back of White Castle, I don’t care. But just know, I ain’t that guy. I don’t like to try and act overly hood or overly ghetto, a million hood stripes, but where I’m from you don’t call me a bitch, number one. Number two, you don’t fake like you’re about that life. If you want to scrap, if you want to make this money, let’s do it. If you don’t, shut your mouth. Just do your thing.”
‘The Chosen One’ remains adamant that he isn’t trying to build his name off of McGregor, but instead has a few other names in mind that he’d like to throw down with in order to help solidify himself as one of the greatest combatants at 170 pounds.
But that doesn’t mean he won’t capitalize on the opportunity if it just so happens to present itself:
“I want you guys to realize this about me, I’m not one of those guys that’s trying to position myself off Conor. I actually got no beef with Conor. He doing his thing, he’s getting what he want to get out of the game and I’m getting what I wanna get out of the game. But it’s a few people that you can step to with that BS and it can slide, I just so happen to not be one of those guys.
“I ain’t trying to build myself off Conor. I’ve got legendary ideas about my career. I want to be a great. There’s about four or five more people I’ve got to beat to solidify that position and that’s my focus and that’s my goal. If he wants to be a stumbling block that gets me to there faster, so be it.”
McGregor is no stranger to competing in the UFC’s welterweight division, as his mini-rivalry with Nate Diaz took place at 170 pounds over a span of six months. The lightweight champ has noticeably bulked up quite a bit since his days at 145 pounds, but is the increased muscle mass enough to allow him to hold his own against the elite of the welterweight division?
You can check out Woodley’s ‘The Champ Life’ episode in which he talks about McGregor here:
Earlier today (Tues., December 20, 2016) surging UFC middleweight Gegard Mousasi called out former champion Chris Weidman in forceful fashion, implying that the New York native had already been sent a bout agreement to face “The Dreamcatcher” but was dragging his feet on signing. However, Weidman, who just got knocked out by a brutal flying knee
Earlier today (Tues., December 20, 2016) surging UFC middleweight Gegard Mousasi called out former champion Chris Weidman in forceful fashion, implying that the New York native had already been sent a bout agreement to face “The Dreamcatcher” but was dragging his feet on signing.
However, Weidman, who just got knocked out by a brutal flying knee from Yoel Romero at UFC 205 on November 12, was quick to reply with confirmation that Mousasi’s name was only one of several he was presented with, and still needed time to heal up from his defeat anyhow:
Easy, Pal. You were just one of a few names given by @UFC, and I'm still healing up. Glad you're finally speaking, though! https://t.co/TVPH6KWWfi
It sense that the former champ needs more time to heal up from “Soldier of God’s” devastating knee, as Weidman was left bleeding profusely in the first-ever card from his home state of New York. Since he changed MMA history by knocking out Anderson and defending his belt three times against Silva, Lyoto Machida, and Vitor Belfort, Weidman has fallen on incredibly tough times, losing by way of brutal stoppage to Luke Rockhold for the title at UFC 194 and Romero.
Mousasi, meanwhile, has been on a tear after he lost to a highlight reel spin kick from Uriah Hall in September 2015, defeating Thales Leites, Thiago Santos, Vitor Belfort, and finally, Hall in their rematch last month to rack up a four-fight win streak with three finishes. He’s dangerously close to a title shot, but getting matched with Weidman would buck the UFC’s usual trend of booking fighters coming off of wins against one another. Still, Weidman could be the big name Mousasi needs to get over the top.
But if he wants to fight now, “The Dreamcatcher” will apparently have to look elsewhere.
UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor has been rumored to be taking a lengthy amount of time off after his historic win over Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205, as UFC President Dana White stated that ‘The Notorious One’ is expected to take 10 months off. McGregor defeated Alvarez in the main event of UFC 205 via
UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor has been rumored to be taking a lengthy amount of time off after his historic win over Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205, as UFC President Dana White stated that ‘The Notorious One’ is expected to take 10 months off.
McGregor defeated Alvarez in the main event of UFC 205 via second round knockout to win the 155-pound title, and the then-featherweight champion became the first dual-weight champion in promotion history. During a recent interview with RTE after winning the Sportsperson of the Year for 2016 at the RTÉ Sport Awards (in association with Sport Ireland), ‘Mystic Mac’ said the historic feat was the culmination of 28 years of work:
“That was the culmination of 28-years of hard work,” he said. “That night was my entire’s life’s work, every single session, every single hour of training I put in was for that moment.
“It was an unbelievable moment for myself, my team, everyone who has come up with me on this journey. It was an amazing night for us all.”
Since his win in Madison Square Garden McGregor has found himself even deeper in the talks of a potential Mayweather boxing match, after having gotten his boxing license from the state of California. In regards to a fight with ‘Money’ in the near future, McGregor says fights like these take time to get done:
“I’ve got the boxing licence. His last pay-per-view was 350,000 buys. The fight was a flop, it was a dud. His last two fights have been duds. I certainly don’t need him.
“Of course the Floyd fight is the fight the public want to see, but we’ll see. These things take time.”
In response to the 10-month time table for his return given by White, McGregor says he only wanted to take the holidays off and is currently weighing his options to see what is next for him:
“As far as I break, I don’t know,” he said. “I know Dana [White] has been on record, he’s saying ‘10 months, he’s taking 10 months’, I don’t know.
“Originally I thought the baby was being born in March and then it was May so maybe I could get in another [fight]. I just don’t know. I’m weighing up my options.”
McGregor also stated that he has still yet to converse with the new owners of the UFC over at WME-IMG, and would like to know what the plan is going forward:
“Ari, Patrick, the new owners from WME-IMG, the guys that bought the UFC for $4 billion, I want to speak to them,” he said. “I want to see what their plan is. Because right now I don’t know what nobody’s plan is.”
Upon his return McGregor will certainly have a plethora of fight options to return to, as the new 155-pound champ has perennial contenders Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson waiting in the wings for their respective title shots, and some unfinished business with Nate Diaz needing to be settled as well.
Regardless of who McGregor is to step into the Octagon with next, you can rest assure that he will be looking to put on a show as always.
A few weeks ago, the UFC had announced that Conor McGregor had relinquished his featherweight title after also becoming the promotion’s lightweight champion with a brutal knockout victory over Eddie Alvarez at Nov. 12’s UFC 205 from New York. The Irishman has remained relatively quiet on the matter since, but he finally broke the ice
A few weeks ago, the UFC had announced that Conor McGregor had relinquished his featherweight title after also becoming the promotion’s lightweight champion with a brutal knockout victory over Eddie Alvarez at Nov. 12’s UFC 205 from New York. The Irishman has remained relatively quiet on the matter since, but he finally broke the ice last night (Dec. 17, 2016), saying that the UFC never contacted him regarding the situation:
“All I know is they’re tying to type onto keyboard and say, we’re taking this belt, we’re taking that belt, we’re doing this, we’re doing that,” said McGregor, who was named the RTE Sports Person of the Year (Via MMAFighting). “You ain’t doing nothing without contacting me first.”
In addition to saying that McGregor had relinquished his title, UFC President Dana White also said that the “Notorious” one would be taking 10 months off due to the fact that he and his longtime girlfriend Dee Devlin would be having a baby. Apparently, McGregor’s baby will be born later than he expected, leading the Irishman to wonder where White got the 10 month mark from:
“As far as a break, I don’t know,” McGregor said. “I know Dana has been on record, being like, ’10 months — he’s taking 10 months off.’ Where did you [get] 10 months?”
According to McGregor, it seems as if there has been a lack of communication between him and the UFC, which was something he discussed after UFC 205. McGregor says that he is still waiting for his conversation with new owners WME-IMG:
“I just don’t know,” McGregor said. “I’m weighing up my options. But again, I expect that conversation. I expect them to fly that jet to me. Ari, Patrick, the new owners from WME-IMG, the guys that bought the UFC for $4 billion, I want to speak to them. I want to see what their plan is. Because right now I don’t know what nobody’s plan is.”
At the end of the day, however, McGregor isn’t worrying about what the promotion says or does. In his mind, he is a two-weight world champion:
“I’m still the two-weight world champion,” McGregor said. “Make no mistake about that. They can say what they want, they can try and get phony belts and hand them out to people I’ve already destroyed. I mean, the current champion (Jose Aldo) is a guy I KO’d in 13 seconds. The current interim champion (Max Holloway) is a guy I destroyed as well. … Officially, I don’t care what nobody says. I am the two-weight world champion and that is that.”