“I think it’s gonna be a great fight. Two amazing fighters. Nate Diaz [is] as tough as they come. Dustin Poirier took that loss [to me] on the chin and came back and has showcased a good mental strength and has had some great, phenomenal fights and wins inside the Octagon. And I’m very, very much looking forward to it. We’ll see what happens after. So, I wish both men the best of luck and we’ll see.”
UFC 230 takes place in Madison Square Garden on November 3 and the co-main event is set to feature two of the lightweight division’s biggest names.
Those two men being the likes of the red-hot Dustin ‘The Diamond’ Poirier and the returning Nate Diaz. Both fighters have a common opponent or two on their resumes but the one that stands out the most is the former lightweight and featherweight champion, Conor McGregor.
McGregor and his next opponent for UFC 229 on October 6, the current lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov took center stage on Thursday to appear in a pre-fight press conference.
Although it was filled with barbs being traded between the two, there was also praise given by McGregor when asked about the matchup between Poirier and Diaz.
For Diaz, his last two bouts came against ‘The Notorious’. The first coming in March 2016 when Diaz stepped in for the then lightweight champion Rafael Dos Anjos on short notice. Diaz would score the big upset via second-round submission to become the first man to defeat McGregor in the UFC.
They rematched a few months later and McGregor would edge out the majority decision win. Poirier’s clash with the Irishman took place in 2014 in the featherweight division where ‘The Diamond’ would lose via first-round TKO. He moved back up to 155-pounds afterward and has gone 8-1 and 1 no contest since.
