Untrue.
He picked the Nate fight because he underestimated Nate and knew Nate had no training camp at all. He then arranged for the fight against the lightweight to he at welterweight, to have an inbuilt excuse. An excuse we've heard plenty of: "Raah rah this lightweight was three times my size; amazing behemoth raah rah"
Worst case scenario: He loses at welterweight, keeps his featherweight belt and his lightweight aspirations.
Then he lost and chose to rematch Nate at welterweight. Seems really brave, but honestly, what were the options? Live with having been bested?
Worst outcome: He loses again to a guy who's got his number and sinply says: "Oh well, welterweight isnt for me."
Then he chose not to defend his belt at featherweight (really bad worst case scenario!) or to work his way up to a lightweight title shot, but immediately went for the champ. Worst case scenario: "Oh well, this champion dude is just really good and I'm a featherweight anyway."
Now he's started to mouth off to Woodley, all the while ignoring every contender in his weight classes. Worst case scenario when he loses to Woodley: "Oh well, he's just 10x my size and really good, and I'm still the champ at LW anyway."
Last time Conor took a chance was when he accepted short notice Mendes for the interim title. That loss to a smaller dude without the belt to fall back on or any inbuilt excuses could've really hurt his career.
Then he got the belt and started becoming a calculating bitch.
I'm not saying he's scared of anybody. He's a fucking elite cage fighter. But despite apoearances to the contrary, from a strategic point of view he manages his career like a humongous pussy.
Facts