To many people, Nate Diaz's second-round submission win over Conor McGregor at UFC 196 was a fluke. They cite McGregor, the featherweight champion, having to move up two weight classes to welterweight on short notice.
McGregor will have a chance to avenge the loss when he fights Diaz, again at welterweight, in the main event of UFC 200 on July 9 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. While Diaz has no problem with facing the Irishman once more, the former lightweight title contender believes the UFC wants McGregor, arguably the company's biggest star, to win the rematch and bring the Stockton, Calif., native down a notch.
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"I swear to God, the UFC thinks (his win over McGregor) was an accident or something," Diaz, 30, told ESPN.com. "They think it was an accident, and now they're saying, 'Let's get Nate back in there and take him out before he gets any bigger.'"
UFC president Dana White said on "SportsCenter" that McGregor has had an "obsession" with getting another shot ever since the fight, although UFC brass and his head coach, John Kavanagh, wanted him to take the rematch at no more than 155 pounds.
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Diaz believes the company is catering to McGregor while not giving him the respect he deserves.
"Since that last fight, have you heard any praise for me from Dana or the UFC? None at all," Diaz told ESPN.com. "How much praise has that m—f—er got? I've never lost a fight and not wanted to fight the guy 10 minutes later. The UFC is pumping him up again, saying he wants to redeem himself and giving him all this credit for it. It's like, dude, I've been obsessed with every fight I've ever lost. This is a gift for him to get it right away.
"He's saying he's obsessed? Welcome to my life, m—f—er. That's the game, and I've never gotten my losses back."
Steven Muehlhausen is an MMA and boxing writer and contributor for Sporting News. You can find his podcast, The Fight Club Chicago, and subscribe on iTunes, Soundcloud, Stitcher and You Tube. You can email him at [email protected] and can find him on Twitter @SMuehlhausenMMA.
