CONOR McGREGOR AND his UFC 196 opponent Nate Diaz faced the media tonight at a press conference in California ahead of Saturday week’s bout in Las Vegas.
As usual in these situations, McGregor dominated proceedings. Here are some of the most interesting lines he had to offer…
On the withdrawal of Rafael dos Anjos…
“The belt stung for a little bit, the fact that I wouldn’t [be fighting for it]. But really, it doesn’t matter about weight divisions or anything, or even what belt is on the line, because I should really create my own belt. I am, in myself, my own belt. It doesn’t matter if it’s featherweight, to lightweight, to welterweight. It’s The McGregor Belt. That’s it. I’m fighting for my own belt.”
On dos Anjos’ injury…
“Dos Anjos has a bruise on his foot. Did ya see it? It’s a bruise. Ice. Ibuprofen. If I jumped under an x-ray, the doctor would slap me and say: ‘What are you doing, kid? Get out of here! Stop this!’ If you show up and fight, you’re in. Congratulations, you did it. Most people, when they get that red-panty night off me they ring home to their wife. Baby, we did it! Nate rings Nick. Baby we did it! I’m happy to give Nate the cheque. So Nate, congratulations, you’re rich now.”
On Nate Diaz…
“I like Nick’s little bro. I do. I honestly like Nick’s little bro. How can you not like him? He’s like a little cholo gangster from the hood, but at the same time he coaches kids jiu-jitsu on a Sunday morning and goes on bike rides with the elderly. He makes gun signs with the right hand and animal balloons with the left hand. You’re a credit to the community.”
I don’t get out of shape. He gets out of shape. [In] his fight against dos Anjos, he was the skinniest fat guy I’ve ever seen in my life.”
“I respect Nate. Don’t get me wrong, I do respect Nate. There’s a lot of pussies in this game and he is not one of them. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a respect there between us. But it’s business in there and business is business. He will be KO’d inside the first round.”
“I feel myself and Nate, we have a similar will, but the skill doesn’t match the will and that’s where the difference will be.”
You’re a junior infants jiu-jitsu coach and you teach seminars to eat. You have to teach seminars all across California just to make ends meet.”
On moving weight classes…
“The only weight I give a fuck about is the weight of them cheques, and my cheques are always super-heavyweight, so I don’t give a shit.”
On his future…
“I’m going to create my own division and that’s it, because who cares about weight? They sign and they pull. It happens to me time and time and time again. I’ve been dealing with it my whole career. I don’t care about weight. It makes no difference to me. As long as there’s an opponent and a date, you’ll see me here.”
On the money…
“I just enjoy the conversations in the bank. The ladies at the bank, they treat me so damn nice. People everywhere treat me so damn nice. There’s a place here in California called Rodeo Drive and, I swear to God, until you’ve went there and felt that nice feeling, that welcoming feeling that they give you when you walk into these shops and the materials that they give you and put on your skin… until you’ve felt that, you cannot speak about this life. I just enjoy everything to do with this life.”
On what motivates him…
“I’m just motivated by movement and money… and the movement of money. That’s it. That’s why you see me here in this prize-fighting, running this whole game. I enjoy movement of the body and movement of the money. It’s my favourite.”
Watch the press conference in full below…
