When Conor McGregor announced the reason for his long awaited return at UFC 303 being pushed back, he received a lot of negativity.
“The Notorious” made the call to delay his comeback fight after breaking his toe in training because after being out for so long, he wanted to step back inside the Octagon at 100%.
A new date has not been provided yet for when he hopes to fight again and whether or not it will still be against Michael Chandler.
Despite their long-running rivalry with each other that produced two of the most iconic fights in the history of the sport, Nate Diaz has McGregor’s back on this one.
Nate Diaz Commends Conor McGregor For Making The Decision To Postpone His Comeback
During an interview with MMA legend Demetrious Johnson on The MightyCast, Diaz said that he actually supports McGregor’s decision to postpone the fight.
The Stockton fighter believes that this shows the Irishman’s experience and learning over the years – which is something Diaz has also noticed in his own career regarding fighting injured.
“That’s experience, you know, he was f***** up when he fought his last fight and I’ve been f***** up in hella fights and I don’t want to like to cry about it afterwards ‘cuz your a** shouldn’t have came to fight if you was f***** up, that’s how I think about it.”
Diaz made a clear distinction between the fact that McGregor didn’t cancel the fight but called for it to be pushed back, and commended him for making that call.
He reflected on how he found himself in a similar position ahead of his fight with Leon Edwards which was moved to the following month’s event at UFC 263, after he suffered a cut in training that he nearly decided to fight through.
Diaz also referenced how McGregor’s injury, which was a big reason why he was inactive for so long, came at UFC 264 because he went into the fight already compromised which further supports his decision to delay the return.
“So now, before you just jump to conclusions and start being like, ‘He’s hurt, f****** p****’ it’s like bro, he lost his last fight because he went in there like a G and he was hurt and he f***** himself up, you know what I’m saying. That being a part of it, he shouldn’t have showed up though but now he knows. So it’s like when people are like, ‘wah’, I’m like why don’t you just shut up and sit down?”