Quote: If Diaz Wants Trilogy Fight With McGregor, He Needs To Beat Ferguson
If Nate Diaz wants to get his hands on UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor again, he’ll need to get Tony Ferguson.
That is according to ‘El Cucuy‘s’ manager Audie Attar. Attar joined MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani on yesterday’s (Mon. April 24, 2017) episode of The MMA Hour to state that if Diaz wants to get McGregor’s attention and interest for a third fight, he needs to make a bold statement against his client in the Octagon (quotes via MMA Mania):
“”The Nate Diaz fight interests him,” Attar said. “If you want Conor to be excited about you, you better go in there and fight if you want to fight him in the future. If this thing happens with Floyd, you got to get Conor excited to get back in there with you. So I think from an opportunity standpoint, Nate would be foolish not to consider taking Tony on for the interim title fight.”
Diaz was a late substitution for former lightweight champ Rafael dos Anjos at UFC 196 in March of last year, and went on to hand McGregor his first loss under the UFC’s banner with a stunning second-round submission upset victory. The pair rematched five months later in the main event of UFC 202, putting on one of the best matches of 2016. McGregor went on to win the bout via majority decision, leaving the series tied 1-1.
Ferguson has been on quite the tear in the 155-pound division, currently on a nine-fight win streak. He was set to challenge No. 1-ranked Khabib Nurmagomedov for an interim lightweight title, but the Russian was hospitalized shortly before the bout and it was called off.
With Ferguson left in need of a new dance partner, a match-up against Diaz could certainly fit the bill.
