Conor McGregor is currently taking some time off following his 10-round (and insanely lucrative) loss to Floyd Mayweather, but one of his coaches is already making noise about what his next move will be. On a recent episode of The MMA Hour, McGregor's striking coach Owen Roddy told viewers he'd "like to see him fight this year." More specifically, he expressed his interest in seeing McGregor step back into the octagon for a second rematch with Nate Diaz:
"I'd like to see Diaz III and the reason I say Diaz is because the build up is exciting and those fights are so exciting. The back and forth, there's nothing like it. It's just a mad scene. The two fights against Diaz were probably the most exciting camps I've been a part of and to do that again would be unbelievable. The fans would like that over everything else."
A third match between McGregor and Diaz is a near necessity given the previous record between the two fighters. In March of 2016, McGregor made his welterweight debut against Diaz, eventually losing by submission in the second round. After that, Diaz and McGregor fought a second time, when McGregor defeated Diaz by decision at UFC 202 six months later. So clearly, the stage is set for a de facto best of three finish between the two fighters, something Roddy seemed to agree with at the end of his interview:
"I like the idea of the Diaz fight. If it doesn't happen next, I'm sure it's down the line."
McGregor himself hasn't weighed in publicly yet on the idea of another rematch with Diaz, so stay tuned to see if this thing actually materializes.