Conor McGregor on first Nate Diaz fight: ‘I mismanaged my weight’

UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor is set to rematch Nate Diaz in a non-title welterweight bout at UFC 202.

McGregor has been “obsessed” with his first loss in the UFC and is looking to show the first fight with Diaz was just a fluke.

“I am forever, forever learning,” McGregor told ESPN. “I think in the last fight [against Nate Diaz in March], I mismanaged my weight. I was working with my nutritionist for the lightweight title fight to make 155 pounds. I was on track. Nine days out from the fight, I’m in phenomenal condition, and then the weight got changed [to 170] and all of a sudden I’m 10 pounds below and I’m like, I don’t need this diet because I need to eat up to the weight. So I threw that out. I disengaged from that. I started eating two steaks a day, two breakfasts. I’d have a coffee and some cookies with that, please, also. I’d be in the gym six to eight hours on fight week. I’ve got bags of energy. I can do this all day. But it came back and bit me in the ass. My body went into shock. I overtrained and then mismanaged the weight, and it came back to bite me on the ass.”

“The Notorious” went on to detail how his preparation for the bout with Diaz was different from any other professional fight he has had.

“When I’m cutting weight, I kind of baby myself to preserve energy to make the weight and to be energetic in the fight. But this fight I didn’t even have to make weight. In fact, I was stuffing my face. I was heavier around the midsection. I wasn’t as lean as I usually am, so my performance was hindered. My gas tank gave in. I had to take a very honest look at what I was doing with my preparation, so I have done that. I’ve brought in people specifically to monitor my cardiovascular. I’m doing something a little bit differently. So everything is a lesson and everything is a blessing.”

Will Conor McGregor be able to overcome Nate Diaz in their rematch? Or does Diaz simply have McGregor’s number? Sound off in the comment section!