Nate Diaz has fired a shot after Dana White confirmed the UFC is going to hand Conor McGregor another shot at Dustin Poirier.
McGregor was badly beaten by Poirier at UFC 257 but immediately called for another opportunity for “all the marbles” after their head-to-head record was levelled at 1-1.
Poirier was open to the idea because of the rare riches offered by a McGregor fight — and that’s good enough for White to sign off on a trilogy bout around mid-year.
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“When you have two guys that are in their positions — Dustin is the No. 1 ranked guy in the world, you got Conor who is ranked No. 6, and they want the trilogy, you got to go with the trilogy,” White said. “We’re probably going to try to put that fight together this summer.”
Despite McGregor appearing to be fit and focused ahead of the second round TKO defeat, White believes he wasn’t and will be better prepared for the third fight.
“If you look at Conor, if you look at the way he fought, the leg kicks that he was eating, the stance he was in, he was completely overlooking Dustin Poirier,” White told Get Up.
“I’m not taking anything away from Poirier, but when you pull in on a super yacht (in Abu Dhabi) and you’re living the life that Conor lives, you need to be hungry and you need to take every guy serious. It doesn’t matter how you beat Dustin Poirier the first time, that’s not the same guy you are going to be facing and obviously Dustin Poirier is training like it’s the most important fight of his life.
“There were a lot of things lined up there for the upset. I guess the good part is the trilogy McGregor is hungrier that he’s ever been, he wants this fight back, he wants this fight badly so it will be a fun third fight.”
White still hasn’t let go of talking lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov out of retiring and appears desperate to ensure he fights his own rematch with McGregor.
The best way to get there is to rebook McGregor-Poirier and bank on the Irishman winning, but it will continue to put the brakes on the 155-pound division.
Diaz responded to White’s confirmation with a stinging Instagram post where he called Poirier a “lil b***”.
The pair had both spoken publicly in the wake of UFC 257 about fighting each other, but pushing Diaz isn’t as high on White’s priority list.
Diaz hasn’t fought since a TKO defeat against Jorge Masvidal in November, 2019 but recently told ESPN he’s keen to return at 170 pounds against Poirier or another 155-pounder Charles Oliveira. Oliveira has already said he’s not interested in the match-up because he’s pursuing the lightweight title.