Nate Diaz won't be short of options upon his return with Conor McGregor and Paul Felder calling out the Stockton-native.
Dana White revealed that the promotion was working on a Diaz fight and although he wouldn't give many hints, he did say it wasn't Tony Ferguson. This has prompted both "The Notorious" and Felder to throw their name in contention to welcome Diaz back to the Octagon. Felder said that although the rumored opponent wasn't him, he would love to fight Diaz.
“I’ve had so many people tag me saying, ‘UFC in the works: Paul Felder vs. Nate Diaz. I’m like, ‘When are they going to call me and tell me about that?’ You want to talk about motivated and getting excited? I would absolutely love that fight," admitted Felder (h/t MMA Junkie). "Like (Dan) Hooker even said, I would fight him at ’85, at 205 – it doesn’t matter. That’s a fight you take. Nate’s a legend at this point. I would love that fight. But now, it’s not me. I wish it was me.”
Ahead of his UFC 257 clash against Dustin Poirier, McGregor has said he would be open for the long-awaited trilogy fight with Diaz. McGregor alluded to the options he may have and seemed very intrigued in ending that chapter in his career.
“There are dangling carrots… treasure chests that get presented to me. We’ve got world titles in boxing now, there’s talks of… I hear Dana talking (about) Nate Diaz coming back down to lightweight. I love that. I’d love to compete against Diaz," stated McGregor. "We will compete again. If that happens at lightweight for a title, that would be something special, also. So there’s many great options that are in the works and let’s see what happens. I am ready.”
McGregor however is still waiting to fight Poirier and even should he win, he will need time to rest and recover after a grueling training camp that rules him out of being Diaz's next opponent. "The Notorious" did weigh in on who he believes Diaz should be facing next.
“I think if he’s going to come down to 155 he should come down for me, to be honest with you. Nate’s a warrior, Nate’s a go-er, Nate shows up, steps up and fights. It’s not necessary, I don’t feel, to have him fight another 155er against another contender. I feel maybe it should be me and Nate, you know. If it’s going to be 155 we could possibly do that for the belt," said McGregor. "If not, I’d probably just fight Nate at 170 pounds again. The reason being we fought at 170 twice. Why mix it up for the trilogy? But, if there’s belts and titles and loftier things on the line, I’m certain a 155-pound challenge with Nate would be something. So, many great fights and many great options, and I’m pretty excited about every single one of them.”
Fightful has all of your MMA needs covered. Follow us on Twitter for updates, and subscribe to our YouTube channel for exclusive interviews, lists, news updates, and predictions.
