Conor McGregor lost his first bout with Nate Diaz, but that apparently didn’t shake his confidence ahead of their rematch at UFC 202.
The featherweight champion has had a rocky few months, as his attempt to move up to welterweight against Diaz at UFC 196 ended in a stunning loss, and the rematch at UFC 200 was cancelled after McGregor failed to do some promotional work for the event.
But McGregor still was his bold and cocky self during a recent interview with MMAFighting.com, even going as far as to say he’ll toy with Diaz on Aug. 20 in Las Vegas at UFC 202.
“I’m feeling very confident in myself that I’ll go in and I’ll toy with this man,” McGregor told MMAFighting.com Eight minutes of the fight, I was toying with him. That fadeaway left hand that he caught me with, my senses were still there. It was almost like a fatigue thing that my balance was gone.
“I always look back and question and say, what would have happened if I would have just weathered the storm? He was one or two shots from being done, I feel. I feel when that left hand hit, he got this burst of energy. You can see it in his corner, they went insane. It was like they won the lotto. Then I took a couple shots and I shot (for a takedown) and I ended up in that guillotine and then it was just downhill from there.
“I wonder what would have happened if I just kept my hands up, I kept circling, took the smacks and survived. Eventually his energy that he gained from that left-hand shot would have dipped again and then round three would have began. There’s a lot of questions and stuff I’m confident I can improve next time. I’m going in here confident that I will get this rematch back.”
Is it Aug. 20 yet?
Thumbnail photo via Mark J. Rebilas/USA TODAY Sports Images
