Nate Diaz has issued public support regarding McGregor’s pullout from UFC 303.
Conor McGregor’s long-awaited comeback was scheduled for UFC 303 on June 29th. The ‘Notorious’ was booked against Michael Chandler in what fans hoped to be a barn burner at 170lbs.
These plans were derailed, however, when McGregor suffered an injury in training that rendered him with a broken toe.
Immediate reaction from fellow fighters was largely negative, with Islam Makhachev and Ilia Topuria shaming him for withdrawing from the upcoming contest.
Nate Diaz Shows Support
Surprisingly, McGregor’s former adversary Nate Diaz was one of the few to voice support for the Irishman – despite the pair’s rocky past.
In an interview with MMA Junkie, the Stockton native expressed his belief that his fellow fighters had overreacted.
“I think they made a bigger deal out of it than it is. Good idea. If I get f*cked up, I would like to push the fight back too, but people f*cking freak out.”
Diaz continued by calling the fighters critiquing McGregor “inexperienced” (referring to Makhachev and Topuria).
“I think I wouldn’t want to fight until I’m 100% ready to rock too, because in the past I’ve done all kinds of sh*t I shouldn’t have done. So, I think he learned from experience and all these inexperienced people out there talking s***, just speaking for their inexperience.”
Trilogy Hopes
McGregor and Diaz are currently 1-1 in their Octagon rivalry, which began in 2016.
Diaz took the world by storm in their first fight when he choked out McGregor in the 2nd round of the UFC 196 main event.
Months later, McGregor was able to avenge his loss in an instant classic. The two went to war over 5 rounds, with the SBG product winning the bout by majority decision.
Since then, both sides have spoken openly about their want for a trilogy fight in the future – which seems like an inevitability to settle the score.
Featured image credit to Embed from Getty Images
