UFC’s Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz ready for their rematch on Saturday

Reporting from Las Vegas —  It’s called the hurt business for good reason, and the headliners in the UFC 202 drama that will play out Saturday night expect plenty of it.

Conor McGregor, humbled by his first UFC loss in March after agreeing to fight replacement foe Nate Diaz 25 pounds over the Irishman’s weight limit, used the motivation from that defeat to train fervently for the rematch.

Looking sculpted and more muscular after extended preparation in Europe and the Mojave Desert, McGregor weighed in Friday two pounds under the welterweight limit at 168 pounds.

“I feel like I didn’t prove what I know I can [do] and I want an opportunity to correct that error,” McGregor (19-3) said.

Meanwhile, the rebellious Diaz (20-10) still doesn’t feel appreciated by UFC officials. Diaz showed his displeasure this week when he followed his fighter-brother Nick’s lead and exited a news conference early, marked by foul-mouthed remarks and thrown bottles.

Diaz weighed in Friday at 170 pounds.

“Where I come from, the way I talk, the way I look, the way I present myself, I don’t think [the UFC] thought [promoting Diaz like McGregor] would be a good idea,” Diaz said Wednesday.

“But this is as real as it gets, and if I want to watch fighting, I want to watch somebody like me.”

Meanwhile, McGregor has his own beef with the UFC.

He arrived 30 minutes late to Wednesday’s session after UFC leadership pulled him off July’s UFC 200 main event for missing an earlier news conference that he rejected in favor of training overseas.

“At least I showed up this time,” McGregor said Wednesday. “You’ve got to do what’s right for you and not what’s right for everybody else. … I’m signed and I’m paid to fight.”

Getting kicked off the UFC 200 card has “been an educational experience that’s allowed me to look at myself a little more,” he said.

“I’m not here to talk and do all these stupid press conferences that they keep trying to get me to do, with all this other … that really means nothing to the fight. I’m here to fight and Saturday night, I will get my wish.”

McGregor had a light public workout Thursday, and ended an on-stage chat with an expletive aimed at Team Diaz.

In their first fight, the bestselling UFC pay-per-view in history, McGregor landed some effective first-round punches. But the Irishman found himself wobbled by the heavier punches of Diaz and was fatigued by packing the extra weight. McGregor lost by second-round submission.

“To all those fans with the invincible feeling that [Diaz] can’t be knocked out, he can be knocked out and he will be knocked out,” McGregor told the workout crowd Thursday.

Oddsmakers list McGregor as a slight favorite in the rematch.

Diaz has prepared to repeat his first showing, when the southpaw displayed boxing skills honed in workouts with unbeaten light-heavyweight Andre Ward, and jiu-jitsu he learned under a disciple of the mixed martial arts founding Gracie family.

“I’m all the way in, ‘cause this is all I’ve got,” Diaz said. “This is all I have. If not for this, I’d be walking the streets. You’ve got these other [fighters] out here excited just because they’re famous, that they can finally make somebody at home proud.

Wednesday’s blowout proved he’s not settling down.

“I have family, friends, cousins, aunts, uncles, people … but I’m almost like, ‘Please don’t watch,’” Diaz said. “The way I talk, it’s a possibility I might embarrass all of us, you know?...

“This is stuff people normally wouldn’t be proud of, but they seem to be getting prouder and prouder, and I’m like, ‘Damn, what the ... going on around here?’”

A fight, that’s what.

lance.pugmire@latimes.com

Twitter: @latimespugmire