(Warning: Video contains strong and offensive language. Viewer discretion is advised.)
TORRANCE, Calif. – Those who doubted that giving Nate Diaz the spot opposite Conor McGregor in the main event of UFC 196 was a good move for business should have seen the scene in Los Angeles’ South Bay area Wednesday.
Less than 24 hours after the younger brother of mixed martial arts’ hardcore antihero, Nick Diaz, was announced as the substitute for injured lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos against McGregor at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena on March 5, the masses flocked to a news conference promoting the impromptu welterweight bout.
An hour before the event’s scheduled start time – McGregor, as it turned out, showed up a half-hour late – the parking lot outside the UFC Gym was jammed, and the line to get in stretched all the way around the block and behind the building. Inside, fans stood on unused weight benches to try to get a better view of the combatants as the raucous crowd jostled for position. On YouTube, 222,000 viewers tuned in for the live stream – a number cable shows would kill for.
Of course, the fans came knowing they were going to get a free show better than many paid events, and the participants delivered. McGregor’s the master of the mic and Diaz will come at you the way only someone who grew up on the mean streets of Stockton, Calif., knows how.
It didn’t take long after McGregor arrived to get the show started with a bang.
“I like Nick's little bro. How can you not like him?" McGregor yelled. "He's like a little cholo gangsta from the hood. But at the same time he coaches kids' jiu-jitsu on a Sunday morning and goes on bike rides with the elderly. He makes gun signs with the right hand and animal balloons with the left hand.”
Diaz had first called out McGregor after Diaz defeated Michael Johnson in Orlando on Dec. 19, launching a profane tirade that caused FOX to bleep out almost the entirety of his live, postfight interview. He picked up Wednesday right where he left off.
“[Expletive] you, [Expletive] your belt," Diaz said. "I don't give a [expletive] what you say mother [expletive]. [Expletive] your [expletive]-ass belt, too.”
McGregor boarded a plane in Dublin on Sunday night bound for Los Angeles expecting to fight dos Anjos, the lightweight champion, in the UFC’s first champion vs. champion fight in seven years. He was informed Monday night that dos Anjos had broken a foot in training and had to withdraw from the bout.
Both Frankie Edgar, the man considered next in line for McGregor’s featherweight belt, and Jose Aldo, the man Edgar beat for the 145-pound title, were offered the UFC 196 fight, but both declined (Edgar due to a groin injury and Aldo said he was not in fighting shape on short notice). While the popular Donald Cerrone was also under consideration, Diaz got the nod.
Wednesday, McGregor used Diaz’s willingness to fight to take swipes at the rest of the pack.
"Nate for me was the leading option," McGregor said. "There were many, many options but in reality, many people pretended they wanted the fight until the fight actually presented itself. Frankie [Edgar] never shut up and then when he was given a phone call and a date, he hasn't been seen or heard since. Jose [Aldo] also, Jose was in camp preparing in case [Rafael] dos Anjos pulled out, and then all of a sudden dos Anjos pulls out with his bruised foot and Jose is not fit.
Even then, McGregor said it took a lot of wrangling to come to terms on the Diaz bout.
"Even Nate tried to exit the fight cleanly,” McGregor said. “There was many discussions. First discussion was the money issue. We resolved the money issue. Then it was he could only make 160, we gave him 160. Then he came back, he could only make 165, so then I told him he could get comfortable and step on the scales at 170 and that's it. We're going to go and fight and I look forward to it.”
At that point, Diaz piped back up, saying he was ready to go any time, at any weight class.
"I said yes from the beginning," Diaz said. "Whatever problems they had, I don't know but I came ready to fight any weight class it didn't matter. There was no hesitation on my part. I was ready to rock the whole time."
Things soon devolved into a wild shouting match, with Diaz claiming the UFC had been calling him for months and that he was ready to fight at 155 pounds, as factions of fans began chanting for their favorite fighter.
Diaz then threw a verbal grenade, accusing McGregor, and the entire UFC roster, of using performance enhancing drugs.
"Everybody is on steroids," Diaz said. "The whole UFC. Everybody. ... You and [Rafael] dos Anjos and [Anthony] Pettis and everybody.”
McGregor, for once, lost his cool, standing up and yelling at Diaz, before calming down and making a rational point: Two of Diaz’s training partners in the NorCal Skrap Pack crew, Jake Shields and Gilbert Melendez, have both popped for PEDs.
"I'm not on no steroids," McGregor said. "What the [expletive] are you talking about? Your two teammates were on steroids. Your two boys. The Skrap Pack. Remember that? Did you know they were taking that stuff?"
The exchange sent UFC boss Dana White scrambling, as he was on the record with TMZ.com within minutes.
"The UFC unquestionably has the best drug-testing program in all of sports," White told TMZ. "All done by the United States Anti-Doping Association."
But then, White had to know that mixing McGregor with a Diaz was going to keep him on his toes. On and on it went, with McGregor bragging about the size of his paycheck and Diaz claiming McGregor has been fighting “midgets” at featherweight. It ended with an intense staredown, overseen by three very large, very muscular security guards who kept order.
Perhaps White lost the champion vs. champion superfight he banked on, but if the response from the people to the new fight over the past 24 hours is any indication, White is less than two weeks away from a very profitable trip to the bank.
Follow Dave Doyle on Twitter: @DaveDoyleMMA
(See full press conference below. Warning: Adult language used early and often.)
