Conor McGregor hasn’t said for certain what he plans to do after fighting Floyd Mayweather this past weekend in Las Vegas, but a trilogy bout against Nate Diaz appears to be at the top of everyone’s wish list.
McGregor has faced Diaz on two previous occasions and the fighters are currently tied at one win each. Diaz tapped out McGregor with a second round rear naked choke last March at UFC 196. McGregor then returned the favor with a majority decision victory in one of the best fights of the year when he met Diaz in the rematch at UFC 202.
Following his fight with Mayweather on Saturday night, McGregor mentioned Diaz by name when speaking about what comes next for him so it seems that matchup is already interesting to the current UFC lightweight champion.
There’s only one condition that McGregor wants for a third fight with Diaz and that’s making sure the fight takes place at 155 pounds.
“100-percent. I am the 155-pound champion. I faced him at 170, he beat me. Then I rematched him at 170, I beat him. Now I’m the 155-pound world champion, now if he wants that fight, he must come down so that’s a fair trade,” McGregor said to a group of reporters on Saturday night.
“I didn’t ask for the rematch at a lower weight. I asked for the rematch at the exact same weight. I thought that was a fair play move on my behalf and then I came in and I won. Now I won that, I won the 155-pound title after that. If he wants the fight, he’s got to make that 155-pound limit.”
Because Diaz took the first fight on short notice, McGregor agreed to meet him at the welterweight limit. Following the loss, McGregor insisted on the rematch also taking place at 170 pounds.
Now that McGregor is the reigning champion in the lightweight division, it seems he’s more than happy to put the title up for grabs in a third fight with Diaz that would almost certainly be the most lucrative bout the UFC could put together right now.
Of course, Diaz has spent most of his UFC career fighting at 155 pounds so it doesn’t seem like McGregor is asking for much concession when it comes to the trilogy bout coming together.
