Dana White has cooled talk of a trilogy fight between Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz by claiming that the fight never should have happened in the first place.
After Diaz submitted the Irishman in the second round of UFC 196, Conor demanded a rematch and he would go on to redeem himself with an impressive decision victory in what was for many the fight of the year. There was such a buzz around that second fight that a third seemed an inevitability at some stage down the line, but if that does happen, it will be against Dana's wishes.
Speaking on The Michael Kay Show [via Bloody Elbow], white admitted that due to the difference in size between the two men, the original fight never should have taken place.
The problem with the rubber match is Diaz is a 170 pounder. He's a massive guy. Conor is a very talented guy, he's very, very good. Every time he goes out there he looks better... We should have never done it in the first place. That's what weight classes are for. They wanted to do it, we did it. They wanted to do it again, we did it again. They're 1-1.
There's only so many of those wars you can be in in your career. It takes a lot out of you. Some guys go into wars like that and they're never the same after it. Look at Meldrick Taylor when he fought Julio Cesar Chavez. He was never the same after that fight. We've had those type of fights too. I believe that Rory MacDonald was never the same after the Robbie Lawler fight. That fight ruined him. I don't want to do that to someone special like Conor McGregor. It's just not right.
That seems very harsh on Rory MacDonald too, although what reason would Dana have to fire a shot at him? Hmm...
The Bellator man is expected to make his debut for his new organisation in 2017, and only then will we really see how he looks as there is no shame in losing to Wonderboy, but it seems like we're not going to get McGregor vs Diaz III if you'd believe White, who certainly wasn't making these points when the PPV numbers for the events came in.
Nate will tell you that he has no problem cutting to 155, but you would have to imagine that the only scenario where we do see the trilogy fight is if he can get himself into the number-one contender spot while McGregor is the champ. And what a prospect that would be.
Or, if Conor simply decides he wants to fight Nate again, then you can be damn sure the UFC would make it happen. It sells itself too, so take what Dana has said above with a grain of salt.
