Rafael dos Anjos thinks Conor McGregor is already preparing excuses for his Nate Diaz rematch

Conor McGregor won't fight until the autumn at the earliest.

But the Irishman is still the hot topic of conversation in UFC circles ahead of 9 July. The Dubliner won't be featuring at UFC 200 in Las Vegas, but that hasn't stopped him doing his best to promote a possible re-match with Nate Diaz over the last 24 hours. Last night he posted to social media the secret to his success when the two men eventually do come face to face again. But in the meantime, Rafael dos Anjos thinks the UFC featherweight champion is already getting his excuses in. Speaking to Brazil website Combate, the lightweight champion, who was due to fight McGregor at UFC 196, feels the 27-year-old is already readying excuses in case he loses to Diaz again.

"In my opinion, he wanted to fight at a different weight, but is already using it as an excuse because he fought with a guy when he was untrained and took a loss. "Now he wants to fight with a full camp and still at the same weight? So it's all programmed, the excuses are already made. If he wants two belts, he knows the way."

RDA also told the website that McGregor made no attempt to try and fight him at UFC 200, and that the UFC were right to stay firm in keeping the Irishman off the 9 July card. McGregor was removed from the key UFC event of the summer, after he complained about the media duties that were set to be imposed on him. RDA feels that McGregor cannot be treated any differently to other UFC fighters, just because of who he is.

"One thing is you ask to travel to another country to do a press conference missing three weeks to the fight; another thing is you ask this missing three months. I already had my trip to Singapore scheduled for the week before the conference, I had to cancel everything. It was a trip scheduled a month ago, it cost money, but I did it. It is difficult for everyone, but it can not do differential treatment for Conor, because he is like everybody else fighter."