Why is he aiming for 170 again? That's the question that fans and foes have been asking over the past week after Ariel Helwani confirmed that, not only is the McGregor vs Diaz rematch being lined up to headline UFC 200, but it's more than likely going to be at welterweight because of McGregor's ego.
He lost at 170 so he'll win back his pride at 170. It would seem that it doesn't matter that a fight at 155 might take away Diaz's natural size advantage, 170 is where they're aiming for and if that's what McGregor wants, that's more than likely what's going to happen.
So what does that mean for Diaz?
The Stockton fighter appeared on UFC Tonight on Fox Sports yesterday and, unsurprisingly he was asked by Michael Bisping about his thoughts on being handed a rematch against McGregor instead of title shot against either Rafael dos Anjos or Robbie Lawler. That title fight may have been what Diaz was looking for a couple of weeks ago but now that the rematch is on the cards, it seems Diaz is more than happy to take 'the real fight'.
That's all well and good, let's be honest, it's about how much money the UFC can squeeze out of their fighters at the end of the day. However, what about the weight? Thankfully the cameras were still rolling during the commercials and the behind the scenes footage caught Diaz saying that he's actually trying to get the fight down to 155 so McGregor has no excuses to hide behind if the result is the same this time around.
So, in the reverse of how things should be, the naturally bigger man is trying to take away his advantage in the negotiations, while the naturally smaller man is trying to give him that advantage. One things for certain, no one can ever accuse McGregor of taking the easy fight again.
If that is the truth, and not just something put out to get an early dig in at the featherweight champ, it's certainly an interesting insight into how the negotiation is playing out. There was still better to come from Diaz however as he dropped into Fox Sports Live to have a face to face chat with Jay and Dan, the two interviewers who rightly pissed him off after that press conference at the start of the month.
7 minutes of Stockton gold and, no matter how much you may have hated to see McGregor lose, it's impossible not to like Diaz.
