UFC Fighters React To Nate Diaz vs. Conor McGregor Rematch

Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz are once again the big news in the mixed martial arts world. Just two weeks after their first fight went down at UFC 196, the two have verbally agreed to rematch at UFC 200. The milestone pay-per-view card was already being pegged as the next time McGregor would fight, but few expected the second fight with Diaz to be on the cards. With the featherweight title essentially in limbo, the news came as shocking to say the least.

The first fight between the two trash talking superstars shed light on many holes in McGregor’s game, holes that Diaz capitalized on in a big way. It was clear that ‘The Notorious’ couldn’t handle the deep waters of that fight, but many felt that excuses were being made for the featherweight champ after his loss. There’s no doubt that welterweight is perhaps too much of a leap for the Irish boxer, who would quite possibly be far more suited as a lightweight.

Whether you like the rematch or not, the 1.5 million estimated PPV buys from their first match is clearly the overruling factor for the UFC. In a game run by numbers, rankings are becoming more pointless by the day. Perhaps fighters should be listed in order of their net worth instead? We can take limited comfort in the fact that a full pre-fight rivalry between Diaz and McGregor shoud be hilariously entertaining, but it doesn’t clear the air of disrespect to the other rematches that McGregor owes.

Dustin Poirier, Joe Duffy, Jose Aldo, Max Holloway are a few names being thrown around, then there’s Frankie Edgar, who’s been surprisingly quiet since this whole storm got started yesterday. There’s rumours of ‘The Answer’ fighting in Madison Square Garden, currently caught up in a bog of legislation and corruption in New York, but just a glance at his Twitter feed would give you a clue or two.

continue to see the reactions

First and foremost, Rafael dos Anjos is not impressed by the Diaz vs. McGregor 2 news, check out what he posted to Twitter:

@UFCONFOX Mcgregor vs Diaz 2 make no sense, I would beat theses 2 guys on the same night

— Rafael dos Anjos (@RdosAnjosMMA) March 18, 2016

Then there’s Frankie Edgar, the apparently disheartened ex-lightweight champion who’s spoke about either waiting for the title shot, or even hinted at jumping ship at times. So you’d expect at least a hint of frustration from Edgar, right? This writer smells a big fight coming, and it has MSG written all over it. Just look at Edgar’s recent tweets, no McGregor or Diaz related talk in sight:

Come see me @TheGarden for the ncaas finals preview show tomorrow 3pm tickets available at the box office

— Frankie Edgar (@FrankieEdgar) March 19, 2016

Big plans?