Real supporters of MMA know the history of long-time rivals Anthony Pettis and Nate Diaz.
The beef stems back to 2014 when Anthony Pettis defeated Diaz’s teammate Gilbert Melendez via submission at UFC 181. The victory secured Pettis a performance of the night bonus as well as a successful lightweight title defense.
The success of Pettis both inside and outside of the octagon must have rubbed Nate the wrong way.
Diaz witnessing his Scrap Pack teammate losing was the ignitor to the rivalry. In a recent video that the UFC put out to promote UFC 241, Diaz stated,
“I was trying to get a fight with him(Pettis) and he was big leaguing me. And then he comes walking by me all cool as the Wheaties box guy.”
Pettis’s frustrations stemmed from the unending trash talk that Nate would vocalize.
“If you want to fight, let’s sign a contract and we can fight”, said Pettis. “As a martial artist lets settle it in the octagon. Let the world watch so I can embarrass you in front of the world.”
Both competitors acknowledge that the fight should have occurred years ago. With UFC 241 on the horizon, both fighters will get the chance to shut the other up. Pettis is riding high coming off of an impressive win against Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson in his newfound home of the UFC’s welterweight division. Diaz will be returning from a 3-year hiatus, rebounding from his loss against Conor McGregor at UFC 202.
The culmination of the 6 years rivalry will finally come to an end at UFC 241 as the co-main event.
The card also features a heavyweight title fight between the champion Daniel Cormier and former champion Stipe Miocic. The card will also highlight a middleweight bout between Yoel Romero and Paulo Costa, a fight that has endeavored fulfillment many times.
UFC 241 takes place on August 17th at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. Subscribe to ESPN plus to witness the end of a bitter rivalry. Do you choose Diaz or Pettis to come out with the victory?
