Nate Diaz gloats at spoiling UFC’s alleged plan to pair GSP and Conor McGregor

Less than a month removed from the biggest win of his career, Nate Diaz claims the UFC was planning a comeback party for Georges St-Pierre before he got in the way.

If UFC featherweight champ Conor McGregor had beaten Diaz earlier this month at UFC 196, Diaz said, it wasn’t a welterweight title fight with champ Robbie Lawler (27-10 MMA, 12-4 UFC) that was next. It was a showdown with the former king of the 170-pound division, who retired in 2013 and was a conspicuous presence cageside at UFC 196.

“I put a big old hole on that (expletive),” Diaz said today on the “You’re Welcome” podcast with Chael Sonnen. “I was like, ‘What do you guys think, I’m some sort of game to be played with?’ I’ve been in this game for too long to (expletive) with.”

Diaz might say the UFC was selling “wolf tickets” when UFC President Dana White denied St-Pierre’s (25-2 MMA, 19-2 UFC) presence was indicative of a plan in the works.

“I knew what was going on,” Diaz said. “Yeah, they had GSP there to have this big whole GSP/McGregor show bull(expletive). I don’t even want to hear that. GSP’s going to come out of retirement to fight this little ass Conor McGregor? What the (expletive)? This is all just a freak show now.

“So now what did I do? I pissed off Conor McGregor, I pissed off GSP, and most of all, I pissed off the UFC. But LOL, mother(expletives). That’s what you all get.”

Diaz (19-10 MMA, 14-8 UFC) had the last laugh, of course, when he submitted McGregor (19-3 MMA, 7-1 UFC) in the second round of the March 5 pay-per-view headliner at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena. But the way he sees it, the rough go he encountered in the first round was probably more what the UFC had in mind than what ended up happening.

“They plotted me out,” Diaz said. “They knew they were going to fight me before I had any clue. They knew I was probably on vacation, out there chilling, and they had their options, and for one, they know I’m the biggest fight.”

Now that Diaz is the victor and McGregor is no longer unblemished in the octagon, the table has been set for the two to rematch, again at welterweight, in the main event of UFC 200. The promotion made the news official today.

“Nobody gets a rematch, and all of a sudden, this guy’s getting a rematch,” Diaz said. “They’re like, ‘We need this to happen and everybody wants this to happen.’ I’m like, ‘Or do you guys want this to happen, because you guys need a re-do?’

“In times of war, you wouldn’t even be here for this to be taking place, because the reality of it is, (expletive), you got taken out. I think the whole rematch thing is cool, because they want to do it, and it’s worth the money and everybody wants to see a big money fight, but I’m just thinking it’s (expletive) up, because I’ve lost a lot of funny decisions in my career, and I know I could beat anybody I lost to, and I never got a rematch. This guy’s getting babied.”

In the buildup to the first fight, Diaz wasn’t shy about calling out McGregor as the UFC’s favored son and said he would expose the Irish champ.

“He’s getting all this damn credit for going up two weight classes, but let’s not forget that I was not doing (expletive),” Diaz said. “And they came in, and not only him, but the UFC, they plotted on me together and tried to take me out, and it all blew up in their faces. So here we are today, and that’s why there’s a rematch.”

Diaz said until his brother, UFC welterweight and middleweight Nick Diaz, returns from a suspension, he’s got no problem giving the promotion what it wants with a rematch.

“If they’re going to pay you chump change, you don’t want to put in that weight-cut work,” he said. “When my brother’s back in the game, that’s his division, so I’m staying out of it. As far as I’m concerned, the whole lightweight division, it’s bigger names in the bracket than anybody at welterweight, except for GSP and my brother and Robbie Lawler.”

It wasn’t long after Diaz’s victory that he saw messages from St-Pierre’s camp angling for a fight. He never heard anything official about a potential bout with the former or current champ.

But after this interview, he just might.

“Georges is full of (expletive),” Diaz said. “They’re all full of (expletive). I want to be the first one to speak up (on St-Pierre): You’re a (expletive) bully. You know you’re going to hold that little-ass Irish man down and take his money. Get your ass up to your weight class, and Conor McGregor’s out of line trying to fight big-ass people.

“He thought he was going to come back and make this big old, ‘Congratulations, Georges St-Pierre is coming back’ show, but get the (expletive) out of here, mother(expletive). But (I) spoiled everybody’s day.”

For more on UFC 200, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.

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