Coach: Diaz lost because he was hurt

Nate Diaz’s head trainer Richard Perez appeared recently on Submission Radio and made the case that Nate Diaz lost to Conor McGregor because of injuries in training, that left him in worse shape than the first fight, which he took on 11 days notice.

“The knee was bad and the ribs were bad because when he hurt his knee, he couldn’t run,” said Perez. “So then when it got a little better, he wanted to start sparring. And he’s not in shape because he wasn’t really doing much. You know, you work on a little bit of mitts and you work a little bit of sparring and he got better and better. And then when he got [Professional boxer Alan] Sanchez in there, he went a good four hard rounds and he was doing real good, but he was getting a little tired, and that’s when Sanchez caught him in the rib and that then put him out there for a while.

“So he can’t back out of the fight. And so I know that if he wouldn’t have been injured, McGregor would have gotten stopped again and Nathan wouldn’t have got hit as much as he did in that first round this last time. Because he was really sharp. He was sparring with guys McGregor’s size, really good boxers and he was whooping on them. So that’s why I knew it wouldn’t happen that way. But it did, and it came out as the best fight of the night. But he got cut, you know, and if there would have been another 30 seconds, he would have tapped him out, cause McGregor was ready to go anyway.

Diaz said he was in worse shape at UFC 202 than at UFC 196, and the coach agreed.

Yes I do,” said Perez. “Because the 90 days that we really trained, he went all out. He wasn’t injured, so it was good just trying to get in shape. And he did get in better shape than he was [for the first fight]. He was in good shape the second time, but then he got injured with the knee, and so that set him back. And then he came back out there and wanted to start sparring and then work with me. And then when he went with Sanchez – cause he wasn’t really doing everything he was supposed to do, you know, sit-ups, all that stuff and push-ups. He was starting to do them back and get back into it and he wanted to go five rounds with Alan. And so that fifth round was when [the rib was injured]. But yeah, if you think about it, yeah he was probably in better shape [for the first fight] because he couldn’t train the last three weeks before this fight. So that sets you back, way back. And then (prior to) the other one, he was training full all the way to the fight. So that makes a difference.

The coach did not consider pulling out of the fight.

No,” Perez said, laughing. “Because I’ve told him that before and he says, ‘Richard, we can’t do that. They’ll put me to the side. So I have to fight.’ So it makes sense. If he were to say, ‘I can’t do it,’ then it would’ve been just like with dos Anjos – they would have put somebody else in and then Nathan wouldn’t get that shot again. So he took a chance and I thought he did good. I thought he won three, four and five. But I went back home and watched it again and I thought he beat him, because you can’t win a round by running. And sure, McGregor threw a lot of kicks in the first round. Second round was pretty close – I gave it to McGregor. But three, four and five? No.

I feel that Nathan [won], but I knew they were going to give it to McGregor. I just felt that they were. And I knew that at the end – Nathan asked me and I said, they’re gonna give it to McGregor, because I figured they’d want a third fight. But I felt that McGregor didn’t win that fight. A lot of people know that. But I felt they did give it to him so they could have a third.

McGregor did the same thing that he did last time. Believe me, he just threw kicks. But the last time, Nathan moved around more, this time he didn’t. If you’re a fighter, you know what it’s like not to train almost three weeks before a fight. You’re not gonna have a lot of what you had before when you were in better shape. So that’s why McGregor looked good. But after the second round, McGregor didn’t look good at all. I mean, Nathan wasn’t in the best shape, but he did better. He was more aggressive, had had him on the cage more, he threw combinations, and McGregor kept running. He was just looking at the time. So that’s the difference.

I watched it when I came home. I came home and watched it four or five times already, and the judges were going for McGregor. I mean, you could tell. It’s obvious. And I figured, okay, they want a third fight. You know, a company just bought it out, they want to make more money. They just bought the UFC. If I bought the UFC, I would try to make it as best as I can to get a third fight, to make more money. That’s a money-maker right there. That’s a big money-maker – more than any other fight that’s happening now. So they would be smart to do a third fight.

You know and I know and the media knows that it was such an awesome fight, I mean, it was like a storm. Everybody’s telling me, I wanna see that again. They want to see that again. That’s gonna be the most big payday for both of them, and for the business, the new UFC people that own it. So if they’re smart enough, they would do it. They will set that up. There’s nobody else. If Nathan goes and fights B.J. Penn or Georges St-Pierre or anyone like that, or even if McGregor [fights either], that’s not gonna be a money-maker. Because those guys haven’t fought in a long time and they’re not action fighters like Nathan fighting McGregor. If anything, Georges St-Pierre will take him to the ground and just hold him and just wrestle him around. And then he’ll probably beat him up because McGregor’s not good on the ground, so he’ll probably tap him out.

If I was the UFC owner, I would say let’s do number three again. After that, he can go back to 145 if he wants, or 155. That’s where they’re fighting at, 155 – which is good if they fight at 155, because if Nathan wins he can go for the belt. But that’s not what he wants. Just like McGregor, they want the money. They want paydays.

The coach was asked if the trilogy fight would go differently than the second one?

Well yeah, because hopefully, he doesn’t get hurt if they fight again, he doesn’t get injured in camp,” said Perez. “Then he’ll be sharp. If you watch a lot of his fights when he’s not injured, he’s sharp. He puts people away, he boxes them up, takes them to the ground and it’s over. These last two fights, one was eleven days notice, and this one he was injured. But still, they were action fights. Nathan put out.

“That’s why. Nathan put it out. Like Georges St-Pierre was supposed to fight Nick one time, and he backed out because he had a leg injury. Now if it would’ve been Nick and Nate, they would have went in there and fought him anyway. And by Nathan being injured, he went out there and he did his best and he put it out. He got best fight of the night, everybody roared and everybody’s talking about it right now. That’s all their talking about. I had people calling me from different states, congratulating me and Nathan for being a good fight, [saying] sorry he got hurt, but he made it a good fight. So that makes me feel good.

Unfinished business. [There needs to be] Number three. If I was the UFC, I would say, let’s let this happen. We’re going to make some money off of it, and then have him go back to 145.

The coach was also asked about USADA investigating Diaz vaping Cannabidiol oil at the UFC 202 post-fight press conference.

I don’t feel like they should suspend him,” said Perez. “I mean, doctors prescribe you with drugs left and right that are not even good for you. And I mean, I don’t do what he does, but I understand what he’s doing. You know, cause it’s for pain. There’s a place here in Modesto that have a big company that deal with people that have sicknesses that are using the oil that Nate was using to help them – you know, like epilepsy. There’s people that have injuries in their body, you know, they use it and it works. And they have six counsellors there that are pastors, that are all educated, that will talk to you about this and explain to you that this is not just to get high. So I feel like he was being his own doctor, let’s put it that way.