Though the promotion of the Conor McGregor vs Nate Diaz welterweight showdown was brief, it was most certainly thorough and exciting.

The two fighter’s personalities blended in a way that conjured up major interest in the short-notice bout and the intense trash-talk that was a feature of every media event preceding the show was exhilarating enough to erase the memory of the contest that might have been – McGregor vs Rafael dos Anjos.

Amidst the constant and vociferous verbal volleying, two of the most common topics were that of performance enhancing drug use and the quality of the teams with which each man trains.

Those talking points converged when Diaz accused McGregor of being a steroid user at a presser in California, only for the SBG fighter to remind the Stockton slapper of the past indiscretions of his own teammates – Jake Shields and Gilbert Melendez.

“What the fuck are you talking about?” shouted McGregor. “Your two teammates were on steroids. Your two boys. The scrap pack – remember that? What happened there? Did you know they were taking that stuff? Did you know they were taking that stuff?”

At another press conference only days before the fight, McGregor took a more direct aim at Shields.

Footage released by entertainment media outlet TMZ showed that the Dubliner launched an assault on the former UFC welterweight title contender, who was standing by the stage. McGregor threatened to “strangle” Shields and referred to the veteran as “a little juice-head”. Shields responded by threatening to “slap the shit out of” the weight-hopping Pay-per-view superstar.

Following Diaz’s win, a picture tweeted out by McGregor’s coach, John Kavanagh, suggested the bad blood between the camps had been settled. Kavanagh and Shields were shown smiling, arm in arm. “Fight to the death and then share the secrets” read the caption.

Still, when he made an appearance on a recent episode of Sherdog’s Beatdown radio show, the former Strikeforce titleholder didn’t seem to have completely disregarded the Irishman’s antics. Shields warned McGregor that his actions could have consequences and they didn’t necessarily have to take place inside the cage.

“Conor started talking crap about Nate, which I guess is understandable because you’re selling the fight,” said Shields “But he also started talking crap about people like me, his training partners, his boxing coach, calling him an old man. And he’s mouthing off to me. He’s got to realize, I’m a 170-pounder; he’s a 145-pounder. He starts telling me he’ll strangle me. I’ll pick him up and I’ll choke him out no problem. He’s mouthing off like he thinks if he talks crap to people like us there’s no repercussions. I was glad Nate went and beat him up and got it settled”.

“At this point Nate beat him, so I’m not going to go and bash him. I’ll leave it at that. If Conor tries running his mouth about me again though and I see him, there’s gonna be consequences. He has to realize in the real world you can’t just talk s—t about people and expect them to not come at you. We’re fighters. It’s not like I’m a journalist where I sit there and write and talk s—t. I’m a fighter. If another fighter is talking s—t about me and we’re not in the same weight class, I’ll just fight you when I see you”.

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