EARLIER THIS WEEK, Nate Diaz claimed that he’s “the money fight” for Conor McGregor when the UFC featherweight champion makes the move to lightweight.
Fighting last night for the first time in over a year, Diaz — who went into his bout in Orlando at 15th place in the 155lbs rankings — looked as good as he has ever done when he out-boxed sixth-ranked Michael Johnson to score a unanimous-decision victory.
Afterwards, Diaz reiterated his claims for a shot at McGregor in a typically expletive-laden post-fight interview, until Joe Rogan intervened and reminded the Stockton star that his rant was going out live on FOX Sports at primetime on a Saturday night.
Diaz told McGregor that he should forget about fighting for the lightweight title, which Rafael dos Anjos defended successfully later in the evening by defeating Donald Cerrone via first-round TKO. Dos Anjos now looks set to defend his title against McGregor next.
Diaz said: “Fuck that! Conor McGregor, you’re taking everything I work for, motherfucker! I’m gonna fight your fuckin’ ass. You know what’s the real fight; what’s the real money fight.
“It’s me, not these clowns that you already punked at the press conference. No one wants to see that, you know you’ve beaten them already. That’s the easy fight. You want that real shit right here.”
McGregor’s coach John Kavanagh then took to Twitter, stating that Diaz should be careful what he wishes for.
