When it comes to pre-fight mind games, Nate Diaz has been known to partake in his fair share. Take for example his 2011 meeting with Donald Cerrone, a grudge match which left both Cerrone's pride and his fabled cowboy hat trampled under a glorious double-bird salute from the younger son of Stockton.

So when Diaz sees shenanigans like Conor McGregor's belt-stealing finale at last month's UFC 189 World Tour, where McGregor leapt over the dais and snatched featherweight champion Jose Aldo's golden UFC title to the delight of hundreds of raucous Dubliners, he can't help but appreciate the mental games at play.

"[Aldo's] team is f**king up," Diaz said with a laugh on Monday's episode of The MMA Hour. "Because let me tell you something: if I had Conor fighting somebody like that, and they were going to make sure one of the guys gets up in your face, you smack his ass to the floor. You know what I'm saying? You don't let somebody do that. Or just laugh at him. Like, [Aldo] got all bent out of shape when the guy took his belt. He should've just laughed at him, been like, ‘Keep the belt. This ain't about the belt. It's about your ass whooping.' I would've let him have it. Take that home and put it on.

"But hey, Conor McGregor, he's doing his thing. He's doing a good job of that and I'm not hating on him. I think he's doing a great job marketing himself. Everybody's forgotten who the champ is already because it's the McGregor show."

McGregor's antics in Dublin concluded a wild and absurdly contentious promotional tour for UFC 189, during which both the polarizing Irishman and Aldo lobbed every threat imaginable at each other over the course of a five-country journey to promote their July 11 title fight.

One constant refrain from McGregor was a promise to move up to lightweight after defeating Aldo and capture Rafael dos Anjos' 155-pound title as well. As could be expected, the promise led to a minor war of words between McGregor and dos Anjos, though if McGregor is eventually moving up to lightweight, Diaz says he wouldn't mind getting a piece of the action himself.

"Conor McGregor keeps talking about coming up and fighting dos Anjos. I don't know what that's gonna do for him. That guy's got like 10 followers or some s**t," Diaz said. "So if these guys want some real fights, then they can call and work it out, or if I can figure it out, I'm game to fight if the money is going to be worth it."