Normally in fighting sports, pre-bout histrionics and chest-puffing look fake, and also not particularly noteworthy. That is not the case when the Diaz brothers are involved.
Nate Diaz, who is fighting Conor McGregor on Saturday at UFC 202, made a late re-entrance to the introductory press conference today, after McGregor was late to the scheduled start. He was flanked by his brother Nick and approximately 15 other leering dudes. McGregor, who clearly doesn’t like Nate on account of Nate beat his ass, kind of leered at the bird-flipping Diaz posse and told them to fuck off. Something—getting a bottle thrown at him?—must have set the Irishman off, because he lost his cool and started chucking cans of energy beverage and bottles of water at the Stockton team.
Sure, the UFC posted a video of this and it helps them sell the fight, so you can write it off as staged, but Nick Diaz is still the dude who beat up Joe Riggs in the hospital the day after they fought in UFC 57. He and his brother are as real as it gets. Look at Nick dodge this projectile.
For such a powerful man, McGregor’s throwing motion is kind of weak. Is this an advanced tactic, to try and lull Diaz into a false sense of security? Sure, why not.