UFC 202 headliner Nate Diaz wants wins and paydays

Even after the judges had rendered their verdict for the main event of UFC 202 on Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena, Nate Diaz wasn’t willing to concede defeat.

While his issue was more with the scorecards, it would be difficult to argue his rematch against Conor McGregor represented anything other that a big win.

Diaz made by far the largest disclosed payday of his career with a $2 million purse, a number that will almost certainly be pushed much higher with bonuses and pay-per-view revenue.

He will also enter his next contest as a massive superstar after splitting a pair of fights over the last few months with the sport’s biggest star.

Still, Diaz would have preferred to have his hand raised by referee John McCarthy after the scores were read aloud in front of a raucous crowd.

He proposed McGregor should have been docked a point for stalling as a result of the several sequences in the second half of the fight where he circled away and out to reset his feet and perhaps catch a breath.

“I didn’t think for a second I lost,” Diaz said of the majority decision. “I thought I won the fight at least three rounds to two.

“He’s going to the hospital and I’m going to my after-party.”

Diaz felt the deck was stacked against him as soon as the fight went to the scorecards.

“I thought I won that fight,” Diaz said. “They can’t have a mother (expletive) like me winning. I’m too real for this sport. They’re going to get me out when they can, but it’s all good, though.”

Diaz did concede a tactical error may have been costly.

“I feel I was going for the takedowns more than I should have,” he acknowledged. “I feel like I should have done less of that and more punching and working. I hate the wrestling when people try to do that, but I felt it was going to be easy and it the last minute he would turn up the defense. I was like, ‘Alright, you want to keep this thing standing.’”

After finding a great deal of success in the first two rounds, McGregor looked like he would gas out late in the second round as he had in the first fight.

McGregor, however, took advantage of a second wind to take the fourth round and secure the fight on the cards.

Diaz believes there should now be a third fight. McGregor agrees, but thinks there should be some time courting other big-name opponents before going back to the well again.

That’s fine with Diaz, who apparently made enough money on Saturday to take some time off and wait.

“I’m not doing anything until round three,” he said. “I don’t have to do anything. You won’t see me again until then.”

McGregor insisted a rubber match would have to take place at 155 pounds, where Diaz has competed for much of his career. He believes Diaz cut down from around 200 pounds for the 170-pound bout on Saturday and had a distinct size advantage.

Diaz scoffed, insisting he was only about 176 pounds on fight night.

“I’ve been a lightweight the whole time,” he said.

While there is no doubt McGregor’s stardom rubbed off on Diaz throughout their two bouts against one another, McGregor says his influence reaches far beyond Diaz.

“I don’t care what anyone says. I helped bring this game to another level,” he said. “They can deny it all they want, but I did. Look at Nate’s purse compared to before the first fight. Everyone’s stock has gone up money-wise and I helped do that.”

That may have been part of the conversation at the end of the fight as the bloodied fighters embraced and shook hands after a contentious fight week that included a bottle-hurling burst of violence at a Wednesday news conference.

The hug may have been a shock to some fans. Diaz said it was just good sportsmanship.

“The fight was over,” Diaz said of extending a helping hand to his rival after the fight. “We just fought 25 minutes. We both tried to take each other out. Until next time, it’s all good. What do you want me to do? Keep kicking the guy when he’s down? The fight was over. It’s all good.”

Not that anything that happened this week was less than genuine.

“It’s intense and everything is real,” McGregor said. “If we saw each other or my team saw their team, it was going down. But there is respect in true battle and that’s just the way it is. This battle was won. We’ll regroup and go our separate ways and we’ll come back for another battle and it’s right back where we started.”

McGregor has even more lessons about Diaz to take into that potential rubber match, should it ever come together.

“I feel I have more skills,” McGregor said. “But he is one tough mother (expletive). His face was busted open and he still kept coming forward.”

That’s what Diaz has always done. Now his career is also full-speed ahead.

Diaz made a whole bunch of money on Saturday and he’s ready for more.

“Still not enough,” he said. “It’s never going to be enough.”

Contact reporter Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5509. Follow @adamhilllvrj on Twitter.