Nate Diaz responds to Boxing legend's praise of UFC star Conor McGregor

Mike Tyson's assessment of Conor McGregor's performance versus Floyd Mayweather has taken Nate Diaz by surprise. The 2017 fight between UFC superstar McGregor and boxing great Mayweather ended up being the second most popular combat sports pay-per-view of all time. Mayweather placed his foot on the throttle in the tenth round to cap the show, ending his debut outing in the squared circle.

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Despite many claims that Mayweather purposefully held up his opponent to amuse the crowd, boxing icon Tyson was thrilled with McGregor's ring debut. In one of his podcast episodes, Tyson said, " never really had a boxing match in his life, right? He went 10 rounds with the greatest fighter in the last 100 years of boxing. He went 10 rounds, scored punches on the greatest fighter in the last 20 years — 100 years. See, people ain't looking at it. People just wanna say, 'The Black guy beat the White guy.' They just want to see it. But look at what he had to fight against. And look at what he did when he fought against it."

Third fight between Nate Diaz and Conor McGregor looks unlikely

Just one year prior to his battle with Mayweather, McGregor, 34, engaged in cage combat with his fierce foe Diaz, losing the first encounter by submission before defeating the Stockton native in the follow-up. The American also emphasised the brutality of his stoppage victory in contrast to Mayweather's triumph in the tenth round.

He wrote in a tweet, "I took him all the way out in about eight minutes right before that. What does that tell you? Finished, dead." The two had a fierce rivalry that captivated UFC fans, and ever since, there have been rumours of a trilogy fight between Diaz and McGregor.

But, given that Diaz quit the UFC after defeating Tony Ferguson in September of last year, a third bout in the near future appears doubtful. McGregor has two fights left on his current contract and is focused on making his UFC comeback against Michael Chandler.