Michael Bisping is one of the few professional fighters picking Conor McGregor to beat Nate Diaz at UFC 202, but the middleweight champion is concerned about McGregor’s state of mind.
During Wednesday’s pre-fight press conference, Diaz abruptly left the stage and began taunting ‘The Notorious’ from the crowd with his entourage. Team Diaz and McGregor started lobbing water bottles and cans at each other, which forced Dana White to end the conference early.
Bisping, who knocked out Luke Rockhold at UFC 199 to take home the 185-pound title, says Diaz’ antics, combined with the result of the first fight, have definitely put a lot of pressure on the featherweight champion.
“I’ve been in this game longer than most, and doubt creeps in,” Bisping said on his podcast ‘The Countdown’ yesterday. “And especially Saturday night, when he’s (McGregor) in the locker room and the fighters are going through and there’s people getting stitched up outside. You can hear the roar of the crowd and you start thinking about what happened last time – how you felt and all these types of things…Doubt will creep in, believe you me, and it will affect his performance.”
“I think if you look at the press conference, Diaz did get under his skin. Diaz is playing it cool.”
Diaz, who stepped in as a late replacement for Rafael dos Anjos at UFC 196, submitted McGregor via rear-naked choke in the second round and earned scores of fans with his gritty performance and post-fight interview.
The rematch, which will be contested at welterweight, takes place tomorrow night, August 20, at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
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