Nate Diaz (L) and Conor McGregor all bloodied up after their main event bout at UFC 202. (file photo)
When it comes to combat sports, there’s nothing like a good old fashioned rivalry between two fighters at the top of their game.
From Matt Hughes and BJ Penn, Randy Couture versus Chuck Lidell, and Cain Velasquez against Junior Dos Santos—the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) had plenty of these in the form of classic trilogy bouts.
With a win against each another, many believe that a grudge match is in order between UFC superstars Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz.
Diaz shocked the world by choking out the current UFC lightweight champion back in March at UFC 196, while the Irishman avenged that loss with a majority decision victory at UFC 202 in August.
The explosive pair of match-ups yielded fireworks, record-breaking pay-per-view numbers, and possibly the greatest rivalry in recent memory. But its seems that UFC president Dana White does not feel the need to set up a third and deciding bout.
“The problem with the rubber match is Diaz is a 170-pounder. He’s a massive guy,” White disclosed in a report from MMAFighting. “Conor is a very talented guy, he’s very, very good. Every time he goes out there he looks better. (But) we should have never done it in the first place. That’s what weight classes are for. They wanted to do it, we did it. They wanted to do it again, we did it again. They’re 1-1.”
Diaz, who’s now listed in the promotion’s 170-lb division, has spent the majority of his career fighting at lightweight, which McGregor now calls home.
The vocal UFC president also admitted that ‘The Notorious’ is a valuable commodity, and that he feels uneasy putting him in a ‘risky’ bout against the equally dangerous Stockton, California native.
“There’s only so many of those wars you can be in in your career. It takes a lot out of you. Some guys go into wars like that and they’re never the same after it,” White explained.
“Look at Meldrick Taylor when he fought Julio Cesar Chavez. He was never the same after that fight. We’ve had those types of fights, too,” White added. “I believe that Rory MacDonald was never the same after the Robbie Lawler fight. That fight ruined him. I don’t want to do that to someone special like Conor McGregor. It’s just not right.”
McGregor is currently taking a hiatus from the sport to take care of his pregnant wife, while Diaz does not have a fight booked yet, as of this writing. Khristian Ibarrola