Nate Diaz admits that Conor McGregor ‘was a shortcut’

Nate Diaz has gotten a lot more attention after beating Conor McGregor at UFC 196.

During the UFC 202 conference call on Friday, Diaz was asked about how he leveraged to get paid what he wanted as both the UFC and McGregor were the ones pushing for a rematch.

“The Notorious” chimed in on Diaz’s negotiations and said, “I taught the kid well. Fair play, get that money brother, yeah?”

Diaz replied, “I was going to get that money regardless.”

McGregor then went on to tell Diaz, “Just have a bit of respect. I taught you well. You were on $20 (to fight) and $20 (to win) and now you’re getting big money, so have respect for that.”

While Nate told the media that he was always going to get to the top, he talked about how he got there and how most fighters aren’t playing their cards right.

“This guy talks about all these fighters like they’re f*cking dumb, and he’s right, they’re all f*cking dumb,” Diaz said (transcribed by MMA Fighting).

“I’m not one of those guys who sat around here f*cking taking contracts. I’ve been bitching about my contract for the last six years. I’ve been going through hell, so I knew I was going to get mine. When it was time to get mine, I was going to get what I was going to get regardless, and I had a plan to do it. It’s not thanks to Conor that I got all of this, but I’m going to say that was a shortcut.”

Diaz said that he had a plan to get to where he is from the beginning and things, fortunately, all came together.

“If I was stupid, I wouldn’t have got to where I’m at,” Diaz said. “I did what I had to do. I got that fight with Johnson, I plotted him out and I got sh*t done. And then I plotted back and got this on a 10-day notice and it worked out still, regardless. I asked for the fight, I said I wanted the fight, I got the fight, so I’m going to take the fight.

“So it’s like, I feel I’m in the position I’m in because I put myself in this position, and it’s not great, it’s not horrible, it’s f*cking what it is. So that’s been my take on the whole situation. I wasn’t following the leader on making some money here. I was going to get my money regardless, and I was going to get where I’m at regardless. But I will say that he was a shortcut.”