Conor McGregor bashes Rafael dos Anjos, says he should be a two weight champion already
Conor McGregor might be focused on his rematch with Nate Diaz at UFC 202, but he hasn't forgotten the fight he was supposed to have back in March.
McGregor was originally lined up to face then lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos in the main event at UFC 196 until the Brazilian fell out of the fight with a broken foot.
With dos Anjos out, Diaz stepped into replace him before ultimately submitting McGregor in the second round via rear naked choke.
Now on the precipice of his rematch with Diaz, McGregor is still taking shots at dos Anjos for dropping out of the fight while also proclaiming that if not for the change of opponents, he'd be standing tall right now as both the lightweight and featherweight champion of the world.
"Realistically, I should be a two-weight UFC world champion," McGregor told FOX Sports on the UFC 202 media conference call.
When dos Anjos returned from injury this past July, he lost the lightweight title to Eddie Alvarez in a first round knockout.
McGregor insists despite his proclamation that he's not dwelling on what could have been and is instead focusing on what actually happened.
The loss to Diaz opened his eyes and McGregor says it forced him to make some tough choices in regards to his training and preparation for the upcoming bout.
"I don't dwell on that," McGregor said. "I'm happy that happened because it forced me to look at my preparation, at the route I was going. It forced me to reassess. So I'm happy that this happened."
According to McGregor, he is taking this rematch with Diaz very seriously and that's why he revamped his training while also relocating his entire camp to Las Vegas to get ready for Diaz.
McGregor hopes the end result is victory because he's got more riding on this fight than any other bout during his entire career.
"Make no mistake — this one means a hell of a lot to me," McGregor said. "This one means more than any amount of money or gold combined. I gave up a hell of a lot of money, I gave up Hollywood opportunities for this contest. I wanted to restrict media, I wanted to solely focus on this.
"So that should tell you how much this fight means to me. I've been preparing accordingly."
