Conor McGregor took to Twitter yesterday to make a series of declarations as he continues to campaign for a rematch with Nate Diaz, while also indicating that he’ll defend his featherweight title before the year is out.
McGregor may not be fighting Diaz at UFC 200, but it’s clear that avenging his UFC 196 submission loss to him is still very much in the forefront of his thoughts, and two months after the defeat he’s sounding more confident than ever that he’ll emerge on top if and when they do eventually meet for a second time.
“I love it! Adapt and overcome. I am coming in light and lean for my rematch and I will school this boy to the bell,” McGregor wrote in response to a comment from Front Row Brian on Twitter indicating that Diaz was physically too big for the Irishman to handle.
Continuing on that theme, McGregor suggested that his diet in the build-up to the fight was responsible for his cardio issues on the night.
“No. Last time I was eating four breakfasts and a dessert on the day of weigh in. You will see. You will all see.”
“On the floor he was swept and controlled. When the tank goes, no amount of skill can save you. You will see.”
McGregor also aimed a couple of verbal jabs at Diaz.
“He has made more excuses for the first 8 minutes of our fight than I have made for the last 2 minutes of our fight.”
“I respect the endurance athlete. A game of will. But those who simply take part, will always be taken over.”
For the record, Diaz simply responded to McGregor’s jibes with the comment, “#whitebelt.”
Meanwhile, McGregor gave a first clue as to when we might see him back at 145lbs, where he remains the title holder.
“I look forward to my end of year unification bout. But like I said before. These featherweights don’t understand…”
Some had doubted whether McGregor would ever fight again in the featherweight division given how brutal his weight cut is to get down to the 145lb limit, but by the sound of things he does still want to defend his belt against the winner of UFC 200’s Jose Aldo Vs Frankie Edgar interim title fight.
The fact he says ‘end of year’ is interesting though. That could mean he’s angling for a spot on another historic event – UFC 205 in NYC at Madison Square Garden in November.
Whether the UFC would agree to that or not remains to be seen though. Dana White had made it clear he wants McGregor to defend his title next, but it sounded as if he wanted him to return earlier than UFC 205.
Meanwhile, McGregor’s Twitter blast wasn’t complete without some boasting about his star power after being asked by a fan whether it was safe to say he was now a bigger draw than Brock Lesnar.
“It is not safe to say. It is fact to say. I hold PPV, Gate, TV, Fightpass and Embedded record. Even Title fight KO.”
A fan then tried to correct him, noting that UFC 100 was believed to have done aprox 1.6 million buys, but interestingly, McGregor seemed to suggest that his UFC 196 show (which was rumored to have done around 1.5 million PPV sales) had outsold that previous milestone mark.
“Incorrect. I beat it by 400,000 buys. Which alone was 100,000 more buys than UFC 197 made IN TOTAL. #KillShot”
McGregor the finished up with one final post, a nod to the fact that he’s able to generate a huge amount of headlines without actually speaking directly to the media.
“Call me No press.Most press.”
