Conor McGregor dubs Nate Diaz as the toughest opponent he’s ever faced

Conor McGregor has named arguably his most notable rival, Nate Diaz, as the toughest opponent he’s ever faced.

A lot of fans are currently wondering if, and when, Conor McGregor will return to the Octagon for the first time since falling to Dustin Poirier last summer. He seems to have recovered from his broken leg fairly well and appears to be training as hard as he has been in a long time.

Nate Diaz, meanwhile, has walked away from UFC and seemingly mixed martial arts for the time being in order to pursue new ventures.

While the two are unlikely to meet again anytime soon for their trilogy, that doesn’t mean we can’t remember the fierce rivalry that they shared once upon a time.

Back in 2016, at both UFC 196 and then UFC 202, McGregor and Diaz went to war in two of the best welterweight fights of all time.

Diaz won the first via submission whereas McGregor got his revenge with a unanimous decision triumph in the summer.

It should come as no surprise, then, that Conor deems Nate to be the toughest man he’s ever stood across the cage from.

https://twitter.com/thenotoriousmma/status/1577434598560366594

This doesn’t exactly mean that the two are going to be best friends forever, because there’s definitely a lot of money to be made in the idea that they’re still foes – regardless of whether or not they settle their differences in MMA or boxing.

Still, it’s nice to see that there is a mutual respect there, especially from someone like McGregor who doesn’t tend to let grudges go quite so easily.

What do you think about Conor McGregor naming Nate Diaz as his toughest opponent? Is there a good chance we will see them collide again in the future? Let us know your thoughts down in the comments, BJPENN Nation!