Nate Diaz has revealed that he turned down the opportunity to complete a trilogy with Conor McGregor, revealing he had no interest in facing the former UFC champion for a third time. The Stockton native made it clear he saw no benefit in another matchup.
During an appearance on “This Past Weekend,” Diaz explained why he didn’t want to lock horns with McGregor at this stage in their lives:
I want to fight the best of the best when they are the best of the best. Conor’s great, but I’m not trying to go kill off Conor when he’s on his last dying f*cking leg, literally. That’s f*cked up. I’m not trying to be the ending to some f*cker’s story like that. We ain’t friends, we ain’t none of that, but I ain’t trying to finish this dude off. That’s what I plan on doing if we’re fighting. At the same time, I ain’t trying to get f*cked up by nobody who just got knocked out on his ass and broke his leg, this guy’s down and out, now he’s nothing but motivated to fight me because who else are you going to fight in there? They’re probably going to give him a f*cking BMF belt, f*cking bitch-ass Oliveira, who I believe I’ll beat the f*cking shit out of.
Diaz-McGregor History
The rivalry between Diaz and McGregor produced two of the UFC’s biggest pay-per-view events. Diaz submitted McGregor at UFC 196 in March 2016, handing the Irish star his first UFC loss.
McGregor won the rematch five months later at UFC 202 via majority decision. A trilogy fight has been discussed for years but never materialized while both fighters were under UFC contract.
No Interest in Third Fight
Diaz’s comments indicate he viewed a trilogy as unnecessary. With the series split at one win apiece, the fighter apparently felt no need to settle the score definitively.
Both fighters have since moved on to other ventures. McGregor has been sidelined with injuries and business pursuits, while Diaz departed the UFC in 2022 to pursue boxing and other combat sports opportunities.
