Nate Diaz happy to have Conor McGregor rivalry: ‘It’s good that he’s here’

NATE Diaz and Conor McGregor may be rivals inside the Octagon, but outside it Diaz is just happy he gets to fight a big name.

It wasn’t that long ago that Diaz appeared to be the forgotten man of the UFC‘s talent-filled lightweight division.

But that all changed after an expletive-laden rant on FOX helped land him in a big-money fight with McGregor, which he won in dramatic fashion at UFC 196.

Looking back at the genesis of the rivalry, Diaz says he welcomed McGregor’s arrival as a star in the UFC.

“I just thought he was doing a good job, making a scene,” he said.

“And I thought, ‘Good, a star to fight’.”

Speaking to roving combat sports reporter Ellie Seckbach, Diaz explained that he had his eye on McGregor when he was making noise in the lower weight classes, but knew he couldn’t drop down to take on the Dubliner.

“I was the biggest name in the (lightweight) division and most of the UFC and there was nobody to fight. Everybody I fought was making a name off me.

“Then we have this guy who’s making a scene and they’re giving him all this love and exposure.

“I’m like, ‘That’s what I’ve been looking for. Unfortunately he’s from a smaller weight class.'”

But once the brash Irishman started calling out fighters in the higher weight classes, Diaz realised there was a golden opportunity to get the sort of fights he’s felt he’s deserved for a while.

“Then he went out the pocket and started calling out the heavier weight classes and talking s**t,” he continued.

“Then I’m like ‘OK now we’ve got a fight!’.”

And after his finger-pointing, expletive-dropping message to McGregor, aimed straight down the lens of the live FOX cameras, Diaz got his big fight – and won it.

And while Diaz says that while there’s a strong competitive rivalry between the pair, he’s pleased that McGregor is around and able to face him, as it gives him the chance to take on one of the UFC’s biggest stars and prove his own worth as one of the UFC’s biggest stars.

“I thought it was good. It’s good that he’s here,” he said.

“If you’re a fighter and you’re gonna let someone just sit around and do that – just take everything – I don’t know what kind of fighter you are and what you’re gunning for.

“You better take out the best of the best and the loudest of the loudest.”

Diaz successfully did just that back at UFC 196 when he submitted McGregor in the middle of the Octagon at the MGM Grand.

And on August 20 he’ll be looking to repeat the feat when he faces him again, this time at Las Vegas’ new T-Mobile Arena at UFC 202.

While McGregor seems unfazed at the prospect of facing the man who beat him last time out, Diaz says he’s happy if his confrontational fighting style does prove intimidating on fight night.

“I don’t really try to intimidate anybody,” he said.

“But it’s a fight and I go about it the way I go about it.

“If they’re intimidated, good.”