Skip to content

Nate Diaz pitches McGregor-Chimaev bout: 'Great idea'

Jeff Bottari / UFC / Getty

UFC star Nate Diaz isn't interested in sharing the Octagon with Khamzat Chimaev, so he's playing matchmaker for the surging welterweight contender instead.

Diaz has an idea he thinks is brilliant - but probably not for the typical matchmaking reasons you'd expect.

The 36-year-old tweeted Friday that Chimaev should face off next with Conor McGregor, who fought Diaz twice in 2016 in one of the promotion's most lucrative rivalries ever.

McGregor responded in a matter of minutes, dismissing Chimaev as a serious test.

"No problem, b----," he tweeted at Diaz.

UFC president Dana White said in November he wanted to book a matchup between Diaz - who's on the last fight of his current contract - and Chimaev, who's won four in a row in dominant fashion to start his career in the promotion.

But Diaz shut down the idea earlier this week, saying "rookie" Chimaev doesn't deserve to fight him and that it was disrespectful for the UFC to offer Chimaev as an opponent.

McGregor, a former two-division champion who has lost two straight fights, will be looking to return to action in 2022 after breaking his leg in a fight with Dustin Poirier this year. The Irishman recently said he expects to be cleared to spar in April.

Daily Newsletter

Get the latest trending sports news daily in your inbox