Jake Shields was interviewed by Submission Radio about a host of UFC 202-related topics, including the bottle-throwing war at the end of the pre-fight press conference on Wednesday, whether he can corner Nate Diaz in tonight’s main event against Conor McGregor, how good McGregor’s jiu-jitsu is, and more.
Submission Radio has the quote transcriptions provided below.
On the Team Diaz UFC 202 events ban
“Supposedly one of the guys I know, talked with the UFC. So I don’t even know exactly what’s going on, just stuff I read. I might could have shown up and got along, but I figured (there’s) no reason to cause drama. I don’t wanna cause any drama between the corners. We’ve already gotten into it a few times, so I just stayed away. I figured I’d make it better and let Nate beat them on fight night.”
On the bottle-throwing incident that led to the ban
“I wasn’t expecting anything to happen, but I guess I mean I shouldn’t be surprised that it did, considering the last time. It kind of came out of nowhere. I’m just sitting there, chilling, spacing out and all of a sudden I see I see Nate running off. I had no idea what was going on. So I’m like oh, and just followed him. Then I see bottles flying everywhere and then I see it going down so I threw a bottle, and then some girl - I think one that Conor threw hit some 14-year-old girl in the head. That’s when I said screw it, grabbed a cup of coffee and chucked it at his corner.”
If the girl who was allegedly hit with a can was actually a part of Team Diaz
“I think she knew some of the guys there, but I personally don’t know her. So she wasn’t like anyone close to the team. I think she knew a guy that knew someone on the team.
If there is a lawsuit against him, Team Diaz or Conor McGregor
“Not that I’ve heard of. Nothing that I know about.”
Thoughts on Conor McGregor cussing out Team Diaz
“Yeah, pretty much fuck those guys too.”
“It is what it is. You know, in the scheme of the days, it’s business, but I don’t really care for those guys - especially when you fight them, you gotta make yourself hate them and they’re easy guys to hate.”
If Jake is banned from cornering Nate
“Yeah, as far as I know I’m allowed to corner (Nate). I didn’t even talk directly to the UFC, I just heard not to show up and I figured, no reason to cause more problems. Just stay out of it and let Nate handle his shit. But as far as I know, they haven’t told me anything about the corner. Yeah, so I’ll be in his corner and I’ll have the best seat in the house again.”
Thoughts on McGregor saying he won’t change his gameplan
“Of course he’s going to make some small changes. He got beat up the first time. You’re not gonna get beat up and not try to make changes. So I think he is gonna make some changes, but we’ll see exactly what they are.”
“A big part of fighting is, you gotta go out there and just feel it, because as soon as you have a gameplan and you get put off, you start falling apart, kinda like Conor (in the) last fight. He had a gameplan and it wasn’t working. You could just see him break mentally. That’s why you can’t be too strict to a gameplan.”
Thoughts on Conor McGregor’s ground game
“I believe he’s improved his Jiu Jitsu, but there’s no way he’s on Nate’s level this fast. And again, I think last fight, his Jiu Jitsu is probably better than it looked last fight. People don’t realize, Conor was already broken mentally before he hit the ground. So I think by that time it got to Jiu Jitsu, Conor was already done. Nate actually broke him on the feet and then Conor pretty much gave up at that point. So I wouldn’t underestimate his Jiu Jitsu, I think he has a lot better Jiu Jitsu than people realize.”
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