Joe Rogan says UFC should book Conor McGregor vs. Nick Diaz
This past weekend, Conor McGregor corrected the lone blemish on his UFC record, defeating Nate Diaz at UFC 202 to avenge his loss at UFC 196. Where McGregor goes from here, or his next opponent, has yet to be determined.
UFC president Dana White has laid out a couple of options, such as facing Jose Aldo in a featherweight title unification bout, or dropping the belt and fighting Eddie Alvarez for the lightweight belt.
We know one thing for certain: McGregor will not immediately face Diaz in the trilogy bout.
“We’re definitely not doing this a third time right now,” White told Fox Sports 1.
A fight with Aldo or Alvarez makes sense from a booking and sporting stand point. McGregor has fought twice with no belts on the line, and getting him back into the title picture is certainly important to the UFC, and to McGregor, who has made it a goal to simultaneously hold belts in two different weight classes.
But if it was up to UFC commentator Joe Rogan, he'd book a completely different fight.
The Instagram picture is a split image of Nick Diaz, Nate's bigger brother, and McGregor. From a purely selling vantage point, it makes a lot of sense. It keeps the McGregor vs. Diaz feud going—a feud that has been a huge success for the UFC—but adds a new wrinkle that even the trilogy bout wouldn't deliver.
But this idea has issues. First of all, Nick Diaz is a natural welterweight who has fought at middleweight, a huge jump in size for an opponent for McGregor. While the Diaz–McGregor fight was at welterweight and justifiably billed as huge move up in weight for McGregor, Nate is a lightweight and traditionally fights 10 pounds heavier than McGregor.
McGregor had fought at lightweight previously in his career and is considered a natural lightweight.
