Getty Conor McGregor punched Nate Diaz during UFC 196 in 2016.
A fight involving Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz is the biggest bout that the UFC could make, according to former UFC champion Dan Cormier.
“That is what I believe draws the general fan in as much as anything that they could do in the UFC right now,” Cormier said on ESPN’s DC & RC show.
McGregor and Diaz are long-time rivals having twice fought each other in 2016.
Diaz won the first fight by second-round rear-naked choke submission, before losing a five-round decision to McGregor in the rematch.
“Because of Nate Diaz and the intrigue, the way the first fight played out, the way the second fight played out” a third fight could also appeal to a wide audience, Cormier said.
They have been linked with a trilogy ever since, but it’s a fight that is yet to come to fruition.
Perhaps, until now.
Though McGregor has long been linked with a match against Michael Chandler, a source close to the Irishman told Heavy that he’d like to fight Diaz this year, too.
It is likely something the UFC boss Dana White would approve of as the two fights they’ve already competed in are firmly in the top-10 best-selling UFC events of all time.
The first fight, held at UFC 196 in March, 2016, sold to 1.3 million homes in the US, according to MMA site Tapology. The rematch five months later generated 1. million sales at the US box office.
“It is still two of the highest-grossing pay-per-views in UFC history,” said Cormier.
“These two men when you put them together make a lot of money and it is far enough out there to be considered an attraction.”
McGregor & Diaz Are On the Slide
Cormier noted that neither of these A-list athletes are the same fighters as they were in 2016.
Since the 1-1 rivalry with Diaz, McGregor has two wins against three losses. Remarkably, Diaz has the same record since his two fights with McGregor.
“I also believe at this point in their careers, sure, Nate Diaz isn’t the guy he was before.
“He’s not the guy that fought the most beautiful striking exhibit against Michael Johnson in Florida, where he went and, ‘Conor McGregor, you’re taking everything I worked for.’
“He’s not that same guy, but neither is Conor McGregor.”
Diaz Left the UFC in 2022
Diaz’s last bout with the UFC was against Tony Ferguson at UFC 279 — a 2022 match in which he won via guillotine choke.
That fight was the final bout on his UFC contract.
At that point, he was free to discuss deals with alternative promotions, and, according to The Independent, went on to score a $500,000 payday when he boxed Jake Paul in a crossover match in 2023.
At the end of that year, he intimated that he’d be willing to return to the UFC as he thought competing at the upcoming UFC 300 show would “be tight.”
UFC 300 would be tight but there’s nobody to fight
“What I will say about UFC 300, it’s missing a big fight,” Cormier said on the DC & RC show.
“That big fight that it’s missing has to have a backstory. That big fight has to have bad blood.”
McGregor vs. Diaz 3 would certainly fit all that criteria.
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Conor McGregor vs. Nate Diaz Is the Ideal UFC 300 Main Event, Dan Cormier Says