Conor McGregor had only just defeated Nate Diaz at UFC 202 and he was speaking about stepping back into the Octagon with the Stockton fighter.
McGregor’s immediate attention is on Eddie Alverez and a shot at the lightweight title at UFC 205 in New York next month, but there’s no doubt he would like to make it a trilogy of fights against Diaz.
“If you want the trilogy, come back down to 155lb and we’ll do it,” McGregor said following his victory over Diaz last month.
“My coach says we win or we learn and I learned from the last fight. Let’s do the trilogy but on my terms. At 155lbs.”
Diaz, who defeated McGregor at UFC 196 in March, was also game for a third fight against the Dubliner.
“Hey good job today, Conor, but we’re going for three. For real. Until then I ain’t coming back.”
It's on!
Let's get you up to speed on UFC 205 https://t.co/jV99HVqhUX pic.twitter.com/PzYONcGnPn— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) September 27, 2016
However, a third fight between the pair appears unlikely to happen if Dana White has his way. The UFC president was speaking to New York radio station Hot97, and seems to think that a third fight would fail to live up to the hype or surpass the second bout.
“I was watching it unfold in front of me man. It was the perfect fight,” White said about McGregor’s victory over Diaz.
“The problem is, when you do these mega fights most of the time with all this hype and everything… Mayweather vs. Pacquiao sucked.”
McGregor-Diaz II went the distance, just like Floyd Mayweather’s points victory over Manny Pacquiao, but it was an all-time classic and saw both fighters lauded at its conclusion.
“That thing lived up to every ounce of hype,” White declares. “It was awesome.”
Asked if McGregor-Diaz III could take place in New York, White was non-committal.
“Conor ends up saying ‘Let’s do this Diaz fight’ and I was like ‘Dude. he’s two weight classes heavier than you’,” White said.
“He didn’t care so we do the fight. Conor has to try and weigh 168 lbs when they are weighing in at 170. The night of the fight, Diaz comes in at 190 lbs. Now Conor McGregor is a 145, 155 lb guy and if you look at the wars he has had with Diaz, you can only have so many of those wars in your career. It doesn’t make sense, and that’s why we have different weight classes. It ended up being an amazing fight but you don’t want to keep doing that.”
“What’s wrong with 1-1? They shouldn’t have fought in the first place.”
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