Nate Diaz made a victorious comeback to the octagon on Saturday with a dominant performance against Anthony Pettis, and Dana White thinks the display will have convinced Conor McGregor to fight his rival again.
McGregor are tied one win each in their bitter rivalry, with Diaz’s defeat to the Irishman in their rematch in 2016 leading to a near three-year hiatus.
Diaz ended his exile in style by beating former lightweight champion Pettis on points and UFC president White is expecting a message from McGregor.
‘I was just saying to Brett [Okamoto, ESPN reporter], I haven’t looked at my phone yet,’ he said after the fight.
It looks like @GamebredFighter is in high demand… #UFC241 pic.twitter.com/bRWymP0eR3
— UFC Europe (@UFCEurope) August 18, 2019
‘He said, “Well, if you had to bet whether there’s a text from Conor, what would you think?”
‘I bet there is. I haven’t looked at my phone. I don’t know if Conor text me or didn’t text me.’
Diaz did not mention McGregor in his post-fight interview in the cage, instead taking aim at Jorge Masvidal – who is fresh off a record-breaking knockout of Ben Askren.
He said: ‘It’s the Nate Diaz army, motherf*****. The reason I was off was because everyone sucked, there was nobody to fight.
‘With this belt I want to defend it against… Jorge Masvidal had a good last fight, a good last fight.
‘All respect to the man, but there ain’t no gangsters in the sport, there ain’t nobody who does it right, but me and him.
‘I know my man’s a gangster but, he’s no West Coast gangster.’
Masvidal was sitting cageside when Diaz called him out and was visibly delighted to hear his rival suggest a clash.
Since his win over Askren Masvidal has been demanding a title shot, and White admitted he was surprised to hear Diaz call out Gamebred’s name.
‘If you would have asked before tonight do I think he will call out Masvidal he would have been the last person I thought he would call out. But he did and it’s kind of fun,’ White said.
‘I don’t think anybody would disagree that they would want to see that fight.
‘We will see. I know that Masvidal feels he should get the next shot.
‘If he wanted to take that fight it would be fun and I wouldn’t be opposed to it.’
