Connor McGregor believes the third time is a charm when it comes to facing his most renowned rival Nate Diaz.
For fans of UFC, it is no news that the Irish martial artist and the American fighter have a longstanding rivalry that goes years back and saw them fight it out in the Octagon two times — McGregor won the UFC 202 match in August 2016, while Diaz emerged winner in the UFC 196 March 2016 match.
However, it seems the former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) featherweight and lightweight double-champion isn’t going to rest without getting a trilogy with Diaz and proving he is, indeed, the better fighter.
Connor McGregor Wants To FIGHT Nate Diaz For The Third Time
McGregor, during a recent outing to the Madison Square Garden after catching the New York Rangers hockey game, opened up about what he would want his return to the ring to be like after two years and who was deserving of time.
While chatting with Factz, the 34-year-old was asked who he believes was his best opponent ever with the most impressive skills, and to no surprise, the star athlete revealed it was Diaz. “Diaz was a tough guys,” he confessed.
However, McGregor soon dropped the bomb that he was hoping to get in the ring again with the “Ultimate Fighter 5” winner, saying, “I look forward to completing the trilogy against Nate.”
When and where the fight would take place remains unknown, but there have been rumors of the pair having a third fight for quite some time. Back in December 2022, McGregor pitched the idea of having a trilogy with Diaz in a series of since-deleted Twitter rants.
A Possible Trilogy Between Diaz & McGregor Has Been Discussed
Per reports, the former boxer, who goes by ‘Notorious’ got inspired to have a face-off with Diaz for the third time after watching promotional videos for Dana White’s Power Slap league.
“Is it a flip of a coin who gets to go first? How long do they have to recover before they get to throw their counter? Or is it over if they’re ko’d? Fascinating. I’m attending one of these 100%. Is this Dana’s ? Wtf is this madness Dana hahaha. I’m in,” McGregor wrote.
In a subsequent tweet, he took a dig at his lifelong rival, writing, “Me Vs Nate on it for the title hahahaha maybe that’s a title you’d have a better chance of coming close to winning Nate you little slapper hahahaha.”
I already beat you at that game too 👋 @TheNotoriousMMA @danawhite pic.twitter.com/Otb5DZJULt
— Nathan Diaz (@NateDiaz209) December 18, 2022
Diaz, who achieved fame for giving McGregor his very first UFC loss, didn’t hesitate to respond to Notorious’ request declaring, “I already beat you at that game too,” before adding, “If submissions weren’t allowed, I knocked you out way faster than Floyd [Mayweather Jr.] did. But it was real so I choked you better and faster than [Khabib Nurmagomedov] did. Boom Roasted.”
Before the controversial trash talk on Twitter, Diaz had hinted at his desire to have a rematch with McGregor during an interview with Inside Fighting, confident it would happen. However, at the time, the 37-year-old California native noted it wasn’t the right time for the trilogy to happen.
A Look At McGregor & Diaz’ Fighting Rivalry
The feud between both parties dates back to 2016 when Diaz, the least famous of the duo, submitted McGregor on short notice at UFC 196. The pair had a controversial press conference held to promote the new main event as they got physical with McGregor striking Diaz’s lead hand.
The Irish athlete was more than confident he could defeat the American athlete but to his dismay and the world’s surprise, Diaz put up quite the fight, defeating the champion with his famous “Stockton Slap” tactic.
Five months down the line, the duo had a rematch and McGregor emerged victorious after just 25 minutes delivering 164 significant strikes and 3 knockouts.
