UFC veteran Brendan Schaub believes that a trilogy bout between Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz will never happen.
Both McGregor and Diaz were in the news this past weekend, though for very different reasons. McGregor’s comeback fight after five years away against Max Holloway was made official for UFC 329 in July, while Diaz fought Mike Perry in the co-main event of MVP MMA: Rousey vs. Carano. After suffering a horrific cut to his forehead that caused blood to run down into his eyes, the fight was stopped in the second round, with Perry winning via TKO.
It was such a bad loss that Schaub thinks it killed off any chance of a trilogy bout between Diaz and McGregor ever happening, despite the UFC reportedly wanting to book that bout before Diaz took a big payday and fought for MVP MMA on Netflix instead.
Brendan Schaub Explains Why Conor McGregor vs. Nate Diaz 3 Won’t Happen Now
Speaking in a video posted to his Instagram, Schaub explained why a trilogy bout between McGregor and Diaz is off the table now after Diaz lost to Perry at MVP MMA.
“Here’s what’s kind of weird, talk about the butterfly effect, Nate looked so bad that he’s never fighting in the UFC ever again. That’s what (expletive) him. Remember, he was like, ‘Me and Conor will get to it, I’m gonna do my thing he’s gonna do his.’ Yeah, but you looked awful. The UFC is never paying for that again. Not a chance. Not a chance. So you’re not gonna get Conor vs Diaz 3, that’s out the window now. That’s what was at stake for Nate that night, but he looked so bad that the UFC is just not in that business anymore, they’re not in the Nate Diaz business anymore,” Schaub said (via Bloody Elbow).
Diaz and McGregor fought twice in the UFC in 2016. In the first fight, Diaz submitted McGregor in one of the greatest upsets in UFC history, but in the rematch, McGregor got him back with a majority decision win in what was an absolute war. A decade later, the UFC heavily considered booking this trilogy for McGregor’s comeback fight, but Diaz decided to fight for MVP MMA. It’s a decision he’ll have to live with, as Schaub said, it likely killed any chance of Diaz ever fighting in the Octagon again, just because of how bad he looked against Perry.
What’s Next For Nate Diaz?
If Schaub is correct and Diaz won’t be returning to the UFC for a trilogy bout with McGregor, then he will have to look for outside opportunities if he wants to fight again, which he will.
After the loss to Perry, Diaz said that he was not planning on retiring despite some of his critics encouraging him to after 22 years in combat sports and tons of damage accumulated. But Diaz loves fighting, and he loves getting paid, so he will keep on fighting for as long as promoters have him.
Most likely, a rematch between Perry and Diaz will happen since the first fight was stopped due to a cut and not due to a true knockout. But a trilogy fight with McGregor is likely off the table now.
UFC Vet Says Conor McGregor vs. Nate Diaz 3 Will Never Happen