By Edward Chaykovsky
MMA star Nate Diaz is not buying the high profile headlines. He calls Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Conor McGregor as nothing more than a "publicity stunt."
In March, Diaz pulled off a very big upset when he chocked out McGregor in two rounds at UFC 196. Diaz took the fight on late notice, at a catch-weight, and overcome some early resistance to outfight McGregor to a win.
A rematch was being discussed for UFC 200, on July 9th, but then McGregor had a dispute with the UFC and withdrew from the show.
Diaz, still training for the rematch, was shocked with the unexpected news that McGregor was considering the possibility of entering the boxing ring to face Mayweather, who retired last September.
Mayweather, a former five division world champion, has named McGregor as the only comeback opponent that he would consider for the fall.
"I was training and then I hear all this Mayweather-McGregor sh*t and I feel like that just a publicity stunt to hide the face that he got his ass whooped," Diaz told the MMA Hour.
"They are talking all this Mayweather sh*t as a coverup to hide that he got his ass whooped. They want to buy more time for him to get better for when we are gonna fight. The whole Mayweather thing is a publicity stunt. It's great for both of them.
"Some boxing followers are going to start following Conor and some MMA followers are going to start following Floyd. They are all benefiting. Nobody is losing there. They are going to keep the ball rolling and keep the publicity rolling.
"They are talking all like 'I run boxing and sh*t' and I'm like 'you just got boxed up.' He didn't get tapped out. He got beat up and shot. I hear Mayweather saying that [McGregor] wins most of his fights with stand-up fights, not with me he wasn't. He was losing the stand-up fight and he took a shot. That was a way out. I just think it's all fake, phony and people should recognize. I call your bluff, fight Mayweather motherf***er. And what's going to happen? Mayweather is going to whoop his ass in a boxing match."
"I'm the only one out of the three who can say that I can whoop both of their asses in one night [in a normal street fight], because Conor can't say that and Floyd really can't say that. Put me in with one of those boxers and I can guarantee that I can beat one of them. I'm the only one [in MMA] that sparred with boxers on that high of a level. I was sparring with Andre Ward, Alan Sanchez. These are the guys I'm sparring with, and then you have this clown [McGregor] bouncing around and sparring with whoever at Freddie Roach's gym. I'll beat that guy's ass too."
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