Conor McGregor appears to be getting frozen out of the upper echelons ofUFC competition.Nate Diaz said he's only really interested in fightingDustin Poirier .
LAS VEGAS — Nate Diaz has told Conor McGregor he "has a lot of work to do" if he ever wants to conclude their rivalry and book a trilogy bout.
The UFC stars have already fought twice before.
Diaz, 36, submitted McGregor with a rear-naked choke at the UFC 196 event in March 2016. The 33-year-old Irishman got his revenge to equal the scoreline with a decision win at UFC 202 five months later.
A third match to decide the rivalry has long made sense.
And considering McGregor has only won once since 2016 and recently suffered back-to-back losses to Dustin Poirier, a bout involving Diaz could have represented the opportune opponent to rebound.
But, according to Diaz himself, it is not a fight that could happen any time soon as McGregor needs to get some winning momentum before he even considers signing a deal for the trilogy.
"Not right now," Diaz told the YouTube show Adam's Apple when asked if he'd fight McGregor.
"He's got a lot of work to do."
McGregor suffered a horrific injury at UFC 264 in July last year, when he snapped his leg during the Poirier trilogy bout.
Questions remain over who McGregor could fight next
He has since been recovering from the bone break and is currently on vacation in the Bahamas with his young family.
It has long been expected that he'll be set to return to compete inside the Octagon this summer, with speculation rife that he'll headline the UFC's International Fight Week show in July at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
However, it remains unclear when he'll fight and who the opponent will even be.
McGregor has been pursuing instant revenge against Poirier, who leads their rivalry 2-1. But Poirier said this week that he is only really interested in fighting Diaz this year.
Now Diaz has said he's only really interested in fighting Poirier, and it thus limits McGregor's comeback options.
"I'm on my last fight on my contract right now," said Diaz. "I would like to fight Dustin Poirier now.
"Next month, when shit changes or people win and start doing something entertaining, or something going on, it's all going to be different, I'm sure."