Conor McGregor will get a chance to redeem himself against Nate Diaz at UFC 200, but Jose Aldo's coach, Andre Pederneiras, thinks the reigning Ultimate Fighting Championship featherweight champion will lose again.
McGregor was a heavy favorite heading into his showdown with Diaz at UFC 196, but the latter silenced his critics and scored a submission win.
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Less than a month after the surprising loss, McGregor got what he wanted -- a rematch with Diaz. But while McGregor is aching to get back at his recent tormentor, Pederneiras is quite sure that the featherweight superstar will have a tough time dealing with much bigger opponents like Diaz.
"I think Conor will control more his impulse to get the knockout so he doesn't gas again, but even if he wins, which I don't think will happen, he's way smaller than the athletes in this division, and I'm not even talking about the champion," Pederneiras said via MMA Fighting.
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Pederneiras added that they were surprised of the rematch as they were looking for another crack at McGregor, who defeated Aldo via knockout just 13 seconds into the bout at UFC 194 in December last year.
After UFC announced the rematch between McGregor and Diaz, Aldo was pitted against Frankie Edgar, where the winner will be the mandatory challenger to McGregor's featherweight title.
"We were expecting the fight with Conor fight, but we can't live to mourn," Pederneiras said. "Aldo has a date and a fight booked, and it's for the interim belt, so let's work to win this title and fight Conor again."
Meanwhile, Diaz also criticized UFC's decision to give McGregor a quick rematch against him. Diaz said that UFC thinks he won by accident, which is the reason why they gave the "gift" of rematch to the 27-year-old Irishman.
"The UFC is pumping him up again, saying he wants to redeem himself and giving him all this credit for it," Diaz said via MMA Fighting. "It's like, dude, I've been obsessed with every fight I've ever lost. This is a gift for him to get it right away."
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