UFC 246 headliner Conor McGregor believes Jorge Masvidal was fading in the third round of his fight against Nate Diaz at UFC 244.

The fight between Masvidal and Diaz for the BMF Championship was certainly a noteworthy occasion, and through the first three rounds it felt like it was living up to the hype in a big way. Alas, courtesy of a doctor’s stoppage due to a Diaz cut, the fight was ended, and many fans believe we were robbed of seeing what would happen in the championship rounds, which is when Diaz tends to come on much stronger.

It turns out that Conor McGregor is someone who believes in that theory, as he noted during a recent interview with ESPN.

“Yeah, you don’t know what way Nate is now,” McGregor said (via MiddleEasy). “Whether he wants to do it again. I think we were robbed of it. You can see Jorge dipping. Jorge was dipping at the end of that third round. And that’s where Nate’s only kicking in. It would have been great to see the four and five. We didn’t see it. Look, whatever. We’ll see what happens.”

Many will say that McGregor’s opinion on this matter isn’t really of any relevance until he steps back into the Octagon against either one of these men. Of course, the popular opinion is that McGregor will go head to head with Masvidal, who won the BMF Championship, if he is able to get past Donald Cerrone this weekend.

There are obviously quite a few ifs and buts involved with all of that and Masvidal would probably be the favorite in that bout, but either way, there’s going to be a lot of excitement for what the future holds if McGregor can get the job done in Las Vegas, Nevada this weekend. 

This article first appeared on BJPENN.com on 1/14/2020.