For the time being, Nate Diaz isn’t keen on settling his rivalry with Conor McGregor.
With wins for both men in their previous two fights against each other, a trilogy bout with McGregor always has loomed for Diaz. The UFC star from Stockton, Calif., shocked the world when he handed McGregor his first octagon loss at UFC 196, but McGregor was able to avenge that by edging out Diaz in the rematch at UFC 202.
With one fight left on his UFC deal, Diaz (20-13 MMA, 15-11 UFC) apparently isn’t looking to fight McGregor (22-6 MMA, 10-4 UFC), who most recently competed last July and broke his leg in a loss to Dustin Poirier.
“Not right now,” Diaz said of fighting McGregor in an interview with “Adam’s Apple.” “He got a lot of work to do.”
Instead, the fight that has Diaz’s attention is Dustin Poirier, whom he was once booked to face at UFC 230 before the fight fell apart.
“I’m on my last fight of my contract right now.” Diaz said. “I would like to fight Dustin Poirier now – now. Next month when sh*t changes, and people win and start doing something entertaining or something going, then it’s going to be all different.”
Diaz and Poirier seemingly have been on a collision course for a while now, but the fight is yet to be finalized. In the meantime, Diaz has been vocal on social media, jabbing at the likes of Poirier, Jake Paul and Khamzat Chimaev.
It’s been eight months since Diaz last competed in a unanimous decision loss to Leon Edwards at UFC 263. But Diaz has done a good job of keeping his name in the headlines, something he feels compelled to do.
“Only because I can’t physically get to them, otherwise I’ve gotta spit it on the thing,” Diaz said. “I don’t know. I don’t even look at that. That sh*t is obnoxious to me, but for me, I’ve got a bigger following than the rest of the people, and they’re not letting me fight. So what I gotta do? I gotta sh*t on them from the internet.”
Conor McGregor trilogy doesn’t appeal to Nate Diaz: ‘He got a lot of work to do’