As much as he is a fan favorite, Nate Diaz is a bit of a tough guy to pin down for interviews. He recently did his first one in a long time, and had quite a lot of interesting things to say about Conor McGregor, Dustin Poirier, and the rest of the lightweight division.
The last time we saw the younger Diaz brother inside the Octagon, was for his highly anticipated BMF title fight back in 2019. This was a bout that he lost against Jorge Masvidal, when the doctor called a stop to the fight due to a cut.
Since then, we have seen Nate clamoring for a rematch with Jorge, and more recently calling for fights with Dustin Poirier. It even seemed like he would be competing at lightweight soon, for the first time in six years.
View this post on Instagram
Where Has Nate Diaz Been?
That is the question that has been on a lot of fan’s minds, as it had been so long since Nate Diaz competed. We have seen glimpses of him calling for fights, but nothing has materialized.
Speaking in a recent interview, Nate said that this was because the UFC has not pulled the trigger on any of the fights he wanted. It all started with a rematch with Masvidal that never happened, then the global pandemic happened, and he has not competed.
“I was looking to do a rematch from my last fight, but they never pulled the trigger on that, so I was just figuring out what was going on,” Diaz explained.
“Then covid hit, and I was seeing the whole world slow down from covid, and I was like ‘Alright, well I ain’t slowing down.’ So I was trying to train and start getting ready for a fight, but I ain’t feel like much was going on, nobody was doing much.
“I sat around for a couple of months, and then I got re-motivated… I didn’t want to fight with a mask on and all that, so I just watched that year fly by. But I was training the whole time.”
From there, Diaz said that it was not his plan to be inactive for this long. Now that it seems that Jorge Masvidal has moved on from a rematch with Nate, he feels like the whole welterweight division is boring.
View this post on Instagram
Reacting To McGregor vs Poirier 2
Naturally, Nate Diaz was watching the highly anticipated rematch between Dustin Poirier and Conor McGregor. We got to see a bit of his reaction following the fight, as he trolled his rival for getting knocked out in the second.
Speaking on the fight now, a few weeks later, Nate says that it was not really Dustin who won the fight, as much as it was Conor who lost the fight. He says that the Irishman made mistakes which led to his defeat.
“I thought Dustin Poirier was pretty owned the whole way through, and I think Conor dropped the ball,” Diaz said, chuckling.
“I just thought it was a big old f—king joke, honestly. He was switching up his whole role and playing Mr. Nice Guy, but he was owning Dustin, the way Dustin was doing what he was told the whole way through. It was just kinda corny, kinda funny to me.
“I think Conor had it going, but then I think he fell back to his same ways and went in there… I think he f—ked up more than Dustin did anything good.
“I think it was less of Dustin doing anything great, and more of Conor f—king up. That’s my personal opinion. I think he was landing shots, it looked pretty in-the-bag to me.”
As for what Conor could have done differently, Diaz thinks that Conor is a man who continues to make the same mistakes that he always has. He gassed out in the same way he did against Nate, against Floyd Mayweather, and more.
“I think he still makes the same mistakes he always has,” Diaz said.
“Conor did that with me, that’s what first exposed him. Then he did it with Mayweather. He tried to make it last against Khabib the best he could, Khabib still couldn’t do s—t. It took him four rounds to finish him off…
“Then he went and fought Dustin, and he was landing all good shots, he was dropping combos on him. I think he was pushing the pace too hard like he had it in the bag, and he was throwing the hard shots, and he went in there and f—ked up. He should have slowed it.”
“This happens because he don’t want to be in there, too,” Diaz added. “He’s anxious for the kill because he wants out. He should have slowed it down a little bit, and then he didn’t. He pushed the pace and he got caught slipping. The leg thing was a factor, but c’mon, you were f—king up the whole time. That’s what I think about that fight.”
View this post on Instagram
Now Is The Time For Nate Diaz vs Dustin Poirier
Nate Diaz and Dustin Poirier were supposed to fight several years ago, but the bout fell through for a variety of reasons. Now that Dustin is coming off his massive win over Conor, Nate thinks that this is the perfect time for it, although he wants it to take place at welterweight.
“Now is the time, for sure, to fight. We should’ve fought a long time ago, and now the stars are aligned,” Diaz said.
“I’m not fighting at 155. I’ll fight probably at 170, 165, 185. Not 155, that’s a dead division. I don’t have nothing I’m hunting in that division, nothing to aim for. I feel like I own it already. So I’ll fight him at 170lb.”
“I believe (the UFC should be interested in this),” Diaz continued. “What else is he going to do? What are they going to do, just give (Conor the third fight)? He should be learning from what he did in the past, and what they’re trying to do is bring him back from the dead again.
“That’s what they do, they’re going to bring him back from the dead for them. I don’t think you can pay me enough money to do s—t like that anymore.”
View this post on Instagram
Who Else Is Of Interest
A ton of people have been calling out Nate Diaz in recent times, but he is not interested in most of them. Although someone who does spark a bit of his interest is lightweight contender Charles Oliveira, who is on a crazy winning streak in the division.
“That’s the guy right there. I’ll fight that guy right there, that’s who I’ll fight,” Diaz said.
“I like the winners, you know what I’m saying? Because I’m a winner. I ain’t lost to nobody, and the few guys that I lost to, they say they finished me, but I ain’t never been finished off like everybody else.
“KO’d, knocked on their ass, sleeping, unconscious, choked out, none of that’s happened to me. So I’m trying to fight the guys who are winners.”
That being said, Diaz made it clear that this is a fight that he would want at welterweight. Another person who has called out Nate is Tony Ferguson, but the Stockton native is not interested in that.
Who do you want to see Nate Diaz fight when he returns to the Octagon?
