Nate Diaz's coach: Conor McGregor has to be on steroids

Nate Diaz's coach, Richard Perez, has accused Conor McGregor of using performance-enhancing drugs ahead of his client's fight with the featherweight champion at UFC 196.

Diaz leveled the same allegation at McGregor - as well as the rest of the UFC - during a heated press conference for the fight. Now, Perez has said he's sure that McGregor is using steroids because of the drastic weight gain he's been able to achieve in the run-up to the event:

"Oh I sure do believe that, heck yeah. Some guys, they get busted - and to be honest with you, I know McGregor has got to be on some kind of steroids," Perez said, according to Anton Tabuena of BloodyElbow.com. "He's pretty big, and then all of a sudden (he's) jumping to 170? Yeah there’s no way, cause I mean, he was supposed to be fighting at 155."

Perez added: "So if you think about it, he was focusing on training at 155. He only had two weeks to go. And all of a sudden he's gonna jump to 170? So no, there’s something going on."

McGregor was initially set to face Rafael dos Anjos at 155 pounds, but the lightweight champion was forced to pull out due to a broken foot.

During the press conference, McGregor claimed it was Diaz's camp that insisted on fighting at 170 pounds, and that he agreed to it because he feels he'll win regardless. However, Perez said it was McGregor who asked to fight at that number because of his steroid use.

"Well, all I know is that he was supposed to fight at 155, and for some reason I don't think he would have made the weight, because he was trying to go to 165 and then he went to 170," Perez said. "So think about it. If you see that, you would think he had two more weeks to go, he would be close to 155 and stay on that, you know, or go to 160. But he didn’t, he jumped to 170. So that’s kinda shady right there."

Added Perez: "That's what I'm saying, that McGregor couldn’t make the weight. Because he would have said 'okay, let's go to 160 or let’s go to 155' because Nathan was ready for it. And he didn't. So then he jumped to 170. Why?"

McGregor vehemently denied Diaz's allegation during the press conference, but Perez believes that his angry reaction shows his guilt:

"When Nathan mentioned it to him, he got defensive, he got angry," he continued. "If somebody would have told me that I was fighting and he told me, you know, steroids, I would laugh and say, 'yeah give me some more steroids, heck yeah, ah ha sure.' But he got defensive and mad, you know, 'I'm not on steroids, I'm not on steroids!' You know, he was like trying to defend himself. So that, just his actions and the way he talked, there's something behind that."

The McGregor-Diaz fight will co-headline UFC 196 along with Holly Holm's first title defense against Miesha Tate on March 5 in Las Vegas.