NATE DIAZ claimed he invented the blueprint on how to beat Conor McGregor – which Floyd Mayweather and Dustin Poirier copied.
Diaz became the first man to ever beat the Irishman in the UFC, winning by second round submission in March 2016.
Nate Diaz submitted Conor McGregor in 2016Credit: Getty Images – Getty
Floyd Mayweather beat Conor McGregor in 2017Credit: PA:Press Association
McGregor, who went from featherweight to welterweight, started off strong but tired quickly, leading to the loss.
And Diaz reckons boxing legend Mayweather – who beat the ex-UFC champion in 2017 – and Poirier both adopted the same tactics.
He told ESPN: “I thought he did horribly [against Mayweather], I thought he did everything that I and the other boxers thought he would do.
“He went in there, punched himself out and got knocked out – he didn’t learn from what happened when I fought him.
“Floyd Mayweather watched the blueprint on how to beat him.
“When the fight started, that’s what he did, he made him punch himself out, because that’s not how Mayweather fights.
“He’d read up on him like I read up on him. I didn’t think Conor did a good job at all.
“He’d just lost to me like that and Floyd went out here and pushed the pace and Conor took the bait.
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“Conor did that with me, that’s what first exposed him, then he did it with Mayweather.
“He tried to make it last against Khabib, he took four rounds to finish him off. Then he fought Dustin, he was dropping combinations on him but I think he was pushing the pace like he had it in the bag.
“That happens because he doesn’t want to be in there, he’s too anxious for the kill because he wants out; he should have slowed it down a little bit.”
McGregor, 32, avenged defeat to Diaz, 35, five months later in a rematch, but was stopped in round ten of his boxing debut against Mayweather, 43.
But Diaz admitted he has no interest in a trilogy with his great rival right now, instead preferring to fight Poirier, 32, at welterweight.
Conor McGregor was knocked out by Dustin PoirierCredit: Sportsfile – Subscription
Poirier is coming off a knockout win against McGregor – the man he lost to in 2014 – in their lightweight headliner in January.
The UFC are now looking at a rubber match between the pair.
But Diaz slammed McGregor’s opportunity at revenge, pointing towards his three losses in the UFC.
He said: “This guy gets finished by me, finished by Khabib – the whole point of him fighting Poirier was to get a rematch against Khabib.
‘This guy gets rematches, it’s crazy. It’s time for something different. He was finished off, why should he get a rematch?”
Nate Diaz says Conor McGregor pushed the tempo v Poirier too much because ‘he’s anxious for the kill’ and ‘wanted out’
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
