Nate Diaz: The UFC Should Hope I Lose At UFC 202
With UFC 201 (July 30, 2016) now in the rearview mirror, all eyes are set on the promotion’s next upcoming pay-per-view event, and it’s a massive one. UFC 202 is set to take place on Saturday August 20, 2016 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Headlined by the highly-anticipated rematch between Nate Diaz and featherweight champion Conor McGregor, the card marks one of the biggest of the year.
The two men previously met for the first time last March at UFC 196, when Diaz stepped up on less than two weeks’ noticed and end up submitting McGregor in shocking fashion. At first, the Stockton native was reluctant to accept the rematch so quickly, as he felt as if the UFC was hoping to ‘weed’ him out. Now, however, Diaz says that the UFC should hope he loses because if he doesn’t, he plans on ‘taking over’:
“So when it first got booked I was like, ‘They want to get me right back in there and try to win this back and weed me out again.’ That’s how it felt. I’m was like, ‘Can I just sit back for eight months and soak up some popularity and some exposure and just go on vacation and do what I gotta do?’ And they were like, ‘We want this’ and I’m like, ‘Why so quick? Whatever.’ Then the deals got done and I was like, ‘Wow. That payday and this payday in that short amount of time, can’t pass that up so let’s do it. But I feel like these guys want to weed me right back out, hoping that I lose. Alright, they’d better hope I lose because if I win this one, I’m really taking over.” Diaz said during The Exchange with Megan Olivi.
As far as his preparation for the rematch goes, not much has changed for Diaz, although the former lightweight title challenger still feels as if he’s the ‘superior’ fighter:
“I’m gonna prepare. That’s about it. We’re gonna see. Same thing like I always say, we’ll go out there and my objective is to win. I’m gonna train hard and try to get it done. I believe I’m the superior martial artist. I’m just gonna go in there and get the job done and not get anything I don’t expect. My plan is to win and do good and work hard and win the fight. That’s my plan and we’re gonna have to see what happens.”
Who do you see winning the rematch?
