Nate Diaz thinks Conor McGregor would have stood a better chance of beating Floyd Mayweather and Khabib Nurmagomedov if they had fought for a third time beforehand.
The UFC superstar, who has just one fight left on his contract, is keen to compete one last time for the company before leaving to explore the lucrative free agency market and a potential fight with Jake Paul.
Diaz claims he is being held hostage by the UFC because they want him to fight McGregor when he makes his comeback later this year, but he is not interested in that fight.
The 37-year-old believes that the time for that fight was immediately after their second fight but ‘Notorious’ went on to win the 155lb title before taking part in a mega-money crossover bout with Mayweather.
As far as he’s concerned, that ship has sailed – at least for now – because he wants to leave the UFC as soon as possible but is struggling to come to terms with the promotion on his final fight.
“They don’t want to let me out of my contract. They want me to fight Conor. I’m not fighting Conor McGregor right now. Our timelines aren’t matching up. You bring yourself back to life, and I’ll be back later, Diaz said on The MMA Hour.
One year after picking up a majority decision win over Diaz at UFC 202 in 2016, McGregor was stopped by Mayweather inside 10 rounds in ‘The Money Fight’
In 2018, the Irishman was once again stopped when he fought Nurmagomedov who submitted him in the fourth round of their UFC 229 grudge match.
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Diaz believes McGregor could have been much better prepared for those two fights if they had fought for a third time beforehand.
“McGregor was too amateur to be fighting Floyd Mayweather,” he said.
“If he finished the trilogy with me, he would have f****** learned how to not get choked. If he finished the trilogy with me, he would have learned to not punch himself out and make it through the rounds with Mayweather.
“He could have got better but he dissed me. He jumped the line. He skipped through the line, and they helped him. No one ain’t helped me the whole time.”
If the UFC gets their way it appears we may get the McGregor-Diaz trilogy sooner rather than later but that seems unlikely with one-half of the mega-fight loudly campaigning for his release from the MMA leader.
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