Nate Diaz wants Conor McGregor to make his Octagon return and create more entertaining UFC events.
In July 2021, McGregor suffered a severe leg injury against Dustin Poirier, leading to his second consecutive loss and an extended recovery process. Since then, ‘The Notorious’ has teased his return to fighting, which has been postponed due to his disappearance from the USADA testing pool.
There are several must-see matchups featuring McGregor that fans want to see before he retires, including a trilogy bout against Diaz. During an interview on the Full Send Podcast, the Stockton native was asked if he thinks the third fight against ‘The Notorious’ will happen. He responded by saying:
“100% [I’m going to fight McGregor again]. I’m ready to see him get back and do something cool too. I don’t know if that fight is gonna happen or not… It would be cool if he got back in there [USADA testing pool] and handled some sh*t, that would be tight. Not a lot of people are doing much in there, so it’s cool when people do bigger sh*t, better sh*t, different sh*t.”
McGregor and Diaz fought twice in 2016, with ‘The Notorious’ losing the first and winning the second. The trilogy bout has seemed inevitable, as both fighters want the fight, but several factors are preventing the highly-anticipated matchup. The former two-division UFC champion isn’t USADA approved, and the Stockton native currently isn’t signed with the UFC.
Nate Diaz discusses his plans after he fights Jake Paul
In September 2022, Nate Diaz announced he would be parting ways with the UFC after his contract expired. The Stockton native capitalized on a win against Tony Ferguson in his last fight to secure a boxing match against Jake Paul, which is scheduled for Saturday, August 5.
During the same interview on the Full Send Podcast, Diaz had this to say about what’s next after fighting Paul:
“Everything changes with every fight, so first we’re getting past Paul then we’ll see what happens. I plan on if somebody bigger comes along or if there’s anybody who wants some after that. I’m planning on moving up the biggest… Yeah, I’m gonna do MMA. 100%, I’ll box and fight MMA again a bunch of times.”
Regardless of what happens against Paul, Diaz is expected to return to the UFC and continue putting on entertaining fights for his loyal fanbase.
Meanwhile, ‘The Problem Child’ needs a win on August 4 to prevent the hype of his boxing career from dying down. The YouTuber-turned-boxer lost as a professional boxer for the first time in February of this year when Tommy Fury secured a split-decision win.
