Arena, not Conor McGregor, gives Nate Diaz fits at press conference
The first time Nate Diaz was on stage with Conor McGregor he lost the war of words by a landslide.
Diaz appeared flustered when he was named McGregor’s injury replacement for UFC 196 at a press conference in Torrance, California, in February. All Diaz could mouthed was a couple of curse words and accused everyone of being on steroids.
McGregor berated Diaz while everyone laughed inside the UFC gym.
That wasn’t the case Thursday during the press conference to promote the rematch between Diaz and McGregor at UFC 202 on Aug. 20.
Diaz still said very little, but this time he was the crowd favorite, and most importantly, had a victory to hang over McGregor. Diaz defeated McGregor by second-round submission in March.
The Stockton, California, native sat confidently on stage, throwing up peace signs without a worry in the world. Well, besides being unable to hear anything that was said.
Microphone echos booming from the new T-Mobile Arena walls made it difficult to hear. Diaz needed UFC president Dana White to repeat the questions being asked by the media.
“This arena is beautiful, but these (explicit) microphones suck,” Diaz said. “I can’t hear (explicit).”
At one point the sound system stopped working and made a screeching noise.
Diaz went on Twitter during the press conference to voice his frustration with the arena microphones.
“This arenas got (explicit) sound system,” Diaz tweeted.
He also tweeted, “I can’t here (explicit) here..” Diaz later tweeted, “Hear … Lol,” to correct his typo.
Hear ... Lol
— Nathan Diaz (@NateDiaz209) July 7, 2016
It was all fun and games for Diaz, who threw his malfunctioned microphone to fans when the press conference concluded.
Oh, and about the steroid allegations Diaz threw back in February. Maybe he was on to something.
Diaz was asked his thoughts about Jon Jones’ failed drug test, which had the former light heavyweight champion removed from the UFC 200 main event against Daniel Cormier.
Diaz went back to one memorable quote he had from the first press conference.
“Everybody’s on steroids,” he said as the crowd laughed.
Contact Gilbert Manzano at gmanzano@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0492. Follow him on Twitter: @gmanzano24
