White: 'It's just not right' to book McGregor vs. Diaz 3

Those clamoring for a rubber match between Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz will have to channel their anticipation elsewhere.

In a Thursday appearance on "The Michael Kay Show," UFC president Dana White waxed nostalgic on the pair of instantly classic welterweight bouts between McGregor and Diaz that took place at UFC 196 and 202. The marquee matchups may have yielded fireworks, record-breaking pay-per-view numbers, and the greatest rivalry in recent memory, but those feats still aren't enough to convince White they were meant to be.

"The problem with the rubber match is Diaz is a 170-pounder. He's a massive guy," White said, according to MMA Fighting's Jed Meshew. "Conor is a very talented guy, he's very, very good. Every time he goes out there he looks better ... (But) we should have never done it in the first place. That's what weight classes are for. They wanted to do it, we did it. They wanted to do it again, we did it again. They're 1-1."

Contrary to White's claim, Diaz has spent most of his career at lightweight - which McGregor now calls home - and is widely considered undersized for the 170-pound division. Regardless, the UFC president doubled down on his reluctance to pit the Stockton scrapper against the reigning 155-pound king for a third time, fearing another war between the two would render "The Notorious" a shell of his otherwise dominant self.

"There's only so many of those wars you can be in in your career. It takes a lot out of you. Some guys go into wars like that and they're never the same after it. Look at Meldrick Taylor when he fought Julio Cesar Chavez. He was never the same after that fight. We've had those types of fights too. I believe that Rory MacDonald was never the same after the Robbie Lawler fight. That fight ruined him. I don't want to do that to someone special like Conor McGregor. It's just not right."