Conor McGregor Wants to Complete the Trilogy With Nate Diaz, But Only on His Terms

Everyone wants to know what McGregor will do next. He says he wants Diaz.

Everyone wants to know what’s next for Conor McGregor after he surprised the world by lasting more than nine rounds in a boxing ring with Floyd Mayweather. More boxing? Back to the UFC? A new sports altogether?

The answer isn’t clear, but what we do know is what McGregor wants: A tie-breaking third fight with the UFC’s Nate Diaz. 

“He wants that trilogy,” McGregor’s manager Audie Attar told MMA Junkie in the immediate aftermath of Saturday’s fight. 

McGregor commented on the possibility himself, telling reporters that he’s ready to fight Diaz, but it must be contested at 155 pounds. 

“I faced him at 170 pounds, he beat me, I rematched him at 170 pounds, I beat him,” McGregor said, “Now I’m the 155 pounds champion, now if he wants that fight, he must come down — that’s a fair trade.”

“I didn’t ask for the rematch at a lower weight, I asked for it at the exact same weight. I thought that was a fair play move on my behalf and I came in and I won. So now I won that and I won the 155 pounds title after that, so if he wants the fight he has to make the 155 pounds limit.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsoiejDEz4A

Chael Sonnen, perhaps the only fighter who talks more than McGregor, has weighed in too, telling The MMA Hour that he has “inside information” that “it’s Nate Diaz next” for McGregor.

That matchup wouldn’t surprise anyone. There’s little doubt that this trilogy is the fight UFC head Dana White wants. He’s clearly desperate to get his biggest star back in the Octagon and the most interesting fight for McGregor right now is one against the only guy who’s defeated him in the UFC.

Diaz, who hasn’t fought since last August’s majority decision loss to McGregor, hasn’t said much this week about a rematch, but his feelings on McGregor are no mystery. He was in Vegas over the weekend, where he reveled in McGregor’s loss, calling him a “pussy” on Instagram and posing with Mayweather in a picture that might give McGregor nightmares.