For much of his UFC career, the Conor McGregor detractors wondered one thing in particular: what happens when he loses? When that air of invincibility he cloaked himself in was breached, would he simply disappear?
Last month, McGregor did lose but he has not lost his relevance. In fact, he's going to headline what is expected to be the UFC's biggest ever event - UFC 200 - in Las Vegas on July 9th.
The fight is a rematch against the man who inflicted his first ever UFC defeat, Nate Diaz. The common view is, McGregor has taken this fight out of pride and that he has perhaps been blinded by it. According to John Kavanagh, McGregor begged Dana White for the rematch.
If he was to lose again to Diaz, it would likely send him back to the featherweight division, tail between his legs.
Diaz believes that 'when' McGregor loses to him again, the Dubliner will be alright.
The 30-year-old from Stockton told Fox Sports:
I'm sure he'll be all right when I beat him. I'm top of the food chain. I've been fighting top 10 competition for eight years. Losing to me is not so bad.
You can lose to some lame ass or you can lose to a real (expletive) G fighter. I don't think it will hurt him too much. He'll be all right.
What annoys Diaz the most about his rematch with McGregor is how much praise the featherweight title holder is getting for actually want it. To Diaz, that should be par for the course.
I've lost decisions that I didn't really lose and if I asked to get a rematch it was out of the question like are you kidding me, don't even ask. But this guy is getting praised for wanting a rematch. It's like get the (expletive) out of here, (expletive), this is the fight game.
Whoever has lost a fight in the UFC and hasn't wanted to fight that guy the next day shouldn't be in the sport. All of a sudden he's getting praised for losing and watching a rematch? Get the (expletive) out of here, I'm sick of hearing it.
Ever since he beat Chad Mendes on this night prior to Conor McGregor taking the featherweight belt from Jose Aldo, Frankie Edgar has been pushing for a title fight with the Irishman.
It might come, perhaps later this year at the UFC's first event in New York. Edgar's plight is a situation with which Diaz empathises.
I feel bad for Frankie Edgar, that's my dude right there. I like him. He was supposed to fight Conor McGregor a long time ago. This was his fight, too, and he got (expletive) around a little bit. I hope he gets what he wants in the future.
I hope he's listening because I had to get what I wanted cause I wasn't getting (expletive) so I hope he does get what he wants and gets what he deserves. I wish he would have got his fight this time.
Picture credit: Mark J. Rebilas / SPORTSFILE
