You would think that given the rivalry between Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz that his elder brother Nick have liked to see the Irish man dominated last weekend.
That is not the case however…
The pairs first encounter came three years ago at a UFC press conference. Both men were asked what they thought of each other’s fighting style.
In what turned out to be a very humorous exchange, Diaz said, “I like it”, to which McGregor responded, “I like it too”.Â
A lot has obviously went down since then. McGregor scaled the top of the mountain defeating long-reigning featherweight king Jose Aldo, before crashing down to earth against Nick’s younger brother Nate, and then returning to even the score with Diaz a few months later.
The feud grew into one of the biggest rivalry’s in MMA history, and fans await the inevitable trilogy fight that McGregor recently stated he owes Nate Diaz.
In the meantime, McGregor returned last week after a two year lay off to take on lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov. The fight did not go as planned for the Irish man as he was dominated by “The Eagle” before being submitted in the fourth round, but you know that already. The whole world does.
Nick Diaz has now come forward proclaiming that he supported McGregor at UFC 229 and wanted him to defeat Khabib because he finds the Russian fighter’s style ‘boring’.
Diaz also reiterated what many others have been saying with regards to McGregor looking somewhat out of sorts throughout the fight.
“I don’t think Conor looked himself in that fight – when he was walking, first time I saw him on screen. I wanted him to win because I’m tired of seeing (Khabib’s) style win.” Diaz told FOX Sports.
“You have to have a certain type of style to beat that type of wrestler on the ground. McGregor is like brand-new on the bottom. I definitely think my brother could beat (Khabib), I know I can beat him.
“You have to be like McGregor but you have to be able to survive with that bottom game. He didn’t have a good defence on the bottom. He didn’t have the right formula on the bottom.”
The Stockton based fighter claimed that Khabib style was a dirty way of fighting, that does not lend itself to fans who would rather see more fighters like himself and McGregor.
“If there are two things people want out of mixed martial arts right now, it’s more me and less you, the wrestlers, the defensive boxer who puts on a boring fight. It’s just a dirty way of fighting.
“You want someone giving them little hits so yea, I gotta take McGregor’s side on that one.”
