While Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather Jr. seem serious about stepping into the ring together for a boxing match poised to make unreal amounts of money, the last guy to fight McGregor — Nate Diaz — isn't buying it.
"I think the Mayweather thing is a publicity stunt," Diaz told The MMA Hour. "It's great for both of them. Boxing followers will start following Conor, MMA followers are going to start following Floyd. They're all benefiting, and no one is losing, so they're going to keep the ball rolling …
"I just think it's all fake, phony and everyone needs to recognize it."
MORE: How Diaz won | McGregor the teaser | Diaz's complaint
Diaz defeated McGregor in UFC 196 and was set for a rematch with him in UFC 200 before McGregor was pulled from the event. Diaz later pulled himself from the event, refusing to fight anyone other than McGregor, whom he believes the UFC created and molded into the MMA superstar who's grabbing headlines and causing headaches.
"They created that monster," Diaz said, adding he never got the credit for his accomplishments in the same way McGregor has. "All my following is strictly from a— whooping and talking some real s—. This motherf—er is on top of the world is because they wanted a little Irish fan base. He got a little ahead of himself and didn't realize it."
Diaz is in the process of negotiating his McGregor rematch for UFC 202 in August. However, he is afraid his second bout with McGregor will take a back seat to a potential McGregor-Mayweather mega-fight after his sit-down with UFC president Dana White and CEO Lorenzo Fertitta last week in Stockton, Calif.
"I don't think they wanted any of that," Diaz said about financial negotiations for UFC 202. "Instead they started talking about McGregor and Mayweather and how that's the new biggest thing. And I'm like, 'hold up, didn't he just get his a— whooped two months ago?' "
Diaz later called McGregor a "dumba— for talking all this" about fighting Mayweather and said, "Mayweather's going to whoop his a— in a boxing match."
"I'm the only one out of the three that can say I'll whoop both their a— in one night," Diaz said, lauding his boxing training. "I'm the only one sparring with boxers at that high of a level … and you got (Conor) bouncing around and sparring with some clown."
If Diaz is right and the working of a McGregor-Mayweather fight is simply a stunt, it's too bad. But a second Diaz-McGregor fight will be a huge draw for the UFC, especially after the fighters' war of words. And it's only going to get better as Diaz plans to take a more McGregor-esque approach to his next fight.
"I'm training to kill and be better than everybody and everybody else is out here trying to be a movie star," Diaz said. "But now I'm out here thinking I'll sit back, do some press and not fight so much and see if I get as much love as that little Irishman gets."