Nate Diaz: Conor McGregor “has a great chance” to defeat Floyd Mayweather

This Saturday, UFC lightweight champ Conor McGregor will step into the boxing ring to tangle with Floyd Mayweather Jr., an undefeated defensive mastermind and one of the best-ever in the long and bloody history of pugilism. For all of McGregor’s talent as a martial artist, he’s being given little chance against Mayweather under the boxing ruleset. There are however, some members of the combat sports community that believe the Irishman can pull it off. His fiercest rival, Nate Diaz, is a part of that group.

Diaz shared his surprising believe in McGregor during an appearance on Against All Odds Podcast with Cousin Sal (via MMAUno.com).

“Of course he has a chance, this is the fight game, you always have a chance in a fight,” he said. “I believe there’s a lot of ignorance going on in the boxing community. Everyone is dissing Conor saying that he doesn’t have a chance and this and that… I think that he has a great chance.”

Diaz continued, drawing on his own experience battling the Irish MMA star, and comparing that experience to his previous sparring with top-level boxers.

“I’ve sparred with top pros in the fight game, some of the best pros in the world and I’ve whooped some better than a lot of them. I’ve fought Conor for 25-minutes and I think he’s got a great chance. Fighting and beating the best boxer pound-for-pound in the world right now, that’s another story, but a fight is a fight and we’re going to see what happens. I hope it’s one hell of a fight.”

Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz are 1-1 across two battles, with Diaz winning the first, and McGregor winning the second. All signs point to a trilogy fight somewhere down the road.

What do you think of these comments from Nate Diaz?

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 8/24/2017.