A Diaz representative confirmed Thursday to MMA Junkie that Diaz had his misdemeanor battery charge dismissed at a court hearing Thursday. Online records confirm Diaz had such a bench trial hearing but still lists the case as active, though often times such records take time to update.
An arrest warrant was filed for Diaz on Oct. 21 stemming from an alleged Aug. 25 incident at Omnia nightclub at Caesars Palace. Diaz was accused of pushing a nightclub bouncer and leaving the scene before police arrived.
News of the arrest warrant came weeks after a video surfaced online with Diaz and a bouncer getting into an altercation. It was unclear if the incidents were the same.
Diaz, 39, has not competed in combat sports since a July boxing win over Jorge Masvidal, though recently said publicly that he’s setting his sights on a UFC return – and a title.
Diaz apparently feels like he has unfinished business in the UFC, though. Would the UFC be interested in bringing him back? Would you be interested in watching him fight again in the UFC?
MMA Junkie’s Brian “Goze” Garcia, Danny Segura, Nolan King, and host “Gorgeous” George answer those questions on Diaz’s future.
Watch their discussion in the video above, and don’t miss this week’s complete episode of “Spinning Back Clique” below on YouTube.
On the latest episode of “Spinning Back Clique,” the panel discusses Roman Dolidze’s big win, Nate Diaz’s potential UFC return, and more.
Check out this week’s “Spinning Back Clique,” MMA Junkie’s weekly live show that takes a spin through the biggest topics in mixed martial arts.
This week’s panel of Brian “Goze” Garcia, Mike Bohn and Danny Segura will join host “Gorgeous” George Garcia live at noon ET (9 a.m. PT) to discuss and debate the following topics:
[autotag]Roman Dolidze[/autotag] made a big step Saturday. The veteran middleweight contender defeated former title challenger [autotag]Marvin Vettori[/autotag] in a unanimous decision in the main event of UFC Fight Night 254. After the win, Dolidze (14-3 MMA, 8-3 UFC) called out [autotag]Israel Adesanya[/autotag] and [autotag]Robert Whittaker[/autotag]. Should the UFC consider those requests? We react to Dolidze’s win and what may come next for him.
From key bookings to bold comments, several things went down in last week’s new cycle. Top prospect [autotag]Bo Nickal[/autotag] (7-0 MMA, 4-0 UFC) got his first ranked opponent, as he takes on former ONE dual champion [autotag]Reinier de Ridder[/autotag] (19-2 MMA, 2-0 UFC). Combat sports star [autotag]Nate Diaz[/autotag] discussed his interest in returning to the UFC, while also criticizing the promotion for its lack of star power. We react to the recent news.
The UFC returns to London this Saturday with UFC Fight Night 255. Former UFC welterweight champion [autotag]Leon Edwards[/autotag] takes on top contender [autotag]Sean Brady[/autotag] in the main event. We break down this key welterweight clash, along with other bouts on the card.
To close out the show, well be doing a live fan Q&A where you’ll get your chance to ask a question and have it answered by the panelist. To submit a question to the show, simply submit it on the YouTube Live Chat. The best submissions will be displayed.
Nate Diaz says he wants another run in the UFC to chase gold, but “nobody’s doing sh*t” to generate interest.
[autotag]Nate Diaz[/autotag] wants to give it one more run in the UFC to chase gold.
Diaz (21-13 MMA, 16-11 UFC) walked away from the promotion after a submission victory over Tony Ferguson at UFC 279 in September 2022 to open himself to other opportunities away from the Las Vegas-based MMA promotion.
After leaving the fight promotion he called home for nearly 15 years, Diaz produced mixed results in the boxing ring, losing a unanimous decision to YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul in August 2023 and winning a majority nod against fellow UFC veteran Jorge Masvidal in July 2024.
Now, Diaz wants to return to the UFC because he doesn’t view his legacy with the promotion as complete, even though he believes very few can compare.
“The legacy – I don’t think about it as done,” Diaz said in a video posted to the Full Violence YouTube channel. “… I think it’s underrated, and I think there’s like f*cking – I think I left more of an impact than a lot of these f*cking, anybody has, really. I mean, Conor (McGregor) has in a way, and then you get like, my brother did – but all that sh*t gets forgotten about too. It can go away because you ain’t getting credit to begin with anyway. You might as well keep that sh*t going forever. That’s why I plan on fighting forever.”
Diaz has been a fan-favorite ever since Season 5 of “The Ultimate Fighter” in 2007. His fight style and persona, along with his brother Nick, created a cult-like following in the MMA world. The Diaz Brothers were a different breed, and generated elevated of interest in their fights, no matter the results.
That’s something Diaz believes he would bring back to the table on one last chase for gold, if that opportunity comes. He believes the current roster is lacking transcendent star power.
“Well, everybody’s boring right now, so I’m trying to do other sh*t for the moment,” Diaz said. “But like, I want to go back and get a UFC title. I don’t want to fight for nothing, you know? I want to fight for something. … It’s about buzz and who’s poppin’ and who’s doing something. Right now, there’s nobody doing sh*t in the UFC.”
If Diaz were to get a call to come back to the UFC, he knows he wants to return at welterweight, but isn’t sure who he would match up against.
“Nobody,” Diaz said. “That’s why I’m not in there right now, you know what I’m saying? I’m watching. I’m hoping for something. … There’s no buzz, nobody’s doing sh*t. There’s nobody to fight, everybody is wack. Every single body in boxing and MMA.”
On March 5, 2016, Nate Diaz and Conor McGregor started as a backup plan and led to two of the biggest nights in UFC history.
(This story first published on March 5, 2018.)
[autotag]Nate Diaz[/autotag] stood in the octagon on Dec. 19, 2015, and listened patiently as UFC commentator Joe Rogan asked him to describe his feelings after beating Michael Johnson via unanimous decision at UFC on FOX 17 in Orlando, Fla.
“(Expletive) that,” Diaz replied, grabbing for the microphone and looking directly into the camera so that he might address his true audience, a fellow by the name of [autotag]Conor McGregor[/autotag].
For fans watching live on FOX in the U.S., where certain words simply aren’t allowed on television, the rant that followed was more beeps than words. But still, Diaz got his point across.
He was upset at McGregor. He thought McGregor might be reaping the rewards of other people’s hard work. He would like to face him in a professional prizefighting contest, please. It was his considered opinion that this contest would be more profitable for both parties than all other alternatives. And so forth.
The powers that be must have felt he made a compelling, eloquent case, because less than three months later Diaz would get that fight he asked for at UFC 196 in Las Vegas. This would lead a couple of the biggest nights in UFC history. And it all started with most Diazian of responses: “(Expletive) that.”
Granted, it wasn’t a direct line from Diaz’s callout to the granting of his wish. Then, as now, calling out the newly minted UFC featherweight champ McGregor was a pretty popular career move. It just didn’t typically go anywhere, since McGregor had his own ideas about his career trajectory, not to mention an uncanny ability to bend reality to meet his desires.
And McGregor? He was clear about what he wanted after a 13-second knockout of Jose Aldo at UFC 194. His plan, he told the world immediately after the fight, was to go straight up to lightweight to claim that belt as well.
Rafael dos Anjos, who successfully defended his 155-pound title against Donald Cerrone a week later, was open to the idea. While he told McGregor it was “better to stay in the featherweight division,” he readily agreed to the pairing. And why wouldn’t he? Like McGregor had promised during one notable earlier exchange, a fight with the Irish superstar was a guaranteed box office hit, not to mention a potential “red panty night” back at home.
But with the bout set for early March, things hit a snag in late February. It seemed dos Anjos had injured his foot in training. He was out of the fight, ruining McGregor’s plans for an epic champ-versus-champ showdown, and it was all happening roughly two weeks before the event. After everything he went through trying to get in the same cage with Aldo, it must have felt like deja vu all over again.
Fortunately, there was no shortage of volunteers to replace dos Anjos. Several names from different weight classes emerged as possibilities. Even the former featherweight champ Aldo was discussed as a possibility. But then, none of them had very recently been seen on network TV calling McGregor everything but a child of God.
UFC President Dana White later would claim Diaz was training for a triathlon when he got the call to fight McGregor. Diaz, however, disputed that claim, and in fact later posted video evidence that seemed to suggest he was, as he claimed, “on a yacht in (Cabo San Lucas, Mexico) getting my chillax on” with friends and teammates. According to the video, that process entailed at least a little bit of tequila.
Still, Diaz accepted the fight at welterweight, which McGregor would later claim as his suggestion once Diaz pushed back on the idea of making the cut to lightweight on such short notice.
Though dos Anjos pulled out of the fight, McGregor wanted to stay on the card.
With 11 days left until the event, the UFC brought in Nate Diaz to fight Conor McGregor at UFC 196. The bout would take place at Welterweight. pic.twitter.com/Bxxcm5mcPu
— MMA History Today (@MMAHistoryToday) March 5, 2018
At a UFC gym in Torrance, Calif., in late February the two made their first public appearance to promote the bout. Foregoing his usual three-piece suits in favor of a grey tank top, McGregor expressed an admiration for the Diaz brothers – even the one he was about to fight.
“I honestly like Nick’s little brother,” McGregor said. “How can you not like him? He’s like a little cholo gangster from the hood. But at the same time he coaches kids jiu-jitsu on a Sunday morning and goes on bike rides with the elderly. He makes gun signs with the right hand, and animal balloons with the left hand. You’re a credit to the community.”
Diaz, draped in a long-sleeve black shirt and jeans, replied in kind.
“(Expletive) you,” Diaz said. “(Expletive) your belt. I don’t give a (expletive) what you say, mother(expletive).”
And with that, the tone was pretty much set.
On paper, the pairing didn’t seem so spectacular. McGregor was the instant sensation up from a lower weight class. Diaz was a former lightweight contender and occasional middling welterweight who seemed to have settled into the middle of the pack as a free TV fighter who, if nothing else, was always fun to watch.
As a replacement for a superfight, it felt decidedly like what it was: a creative but still somewhat desperate back-up plan.
Still, it was the interplay of personalities that promised to make this fun. McGregor touted his fame, his drawing power, his commitment to elevating the game as a well-dressed international superstar with the power to change these bums’ lives just by letting them share the same cage with him for a night.
Diaz? Yeah, he didn’t play that.
“I don’t care if it’s all good or not all good,” he said in an interview a couple weeks before the bout. “When we fight, we’re going to fight – fight fight, for real fight. He thinks he’s a ninja? I’m the ninja. Ninja Gaiden, American Ninja, real mother(expletive) ninja. This ninja martial artist right here, I started that (expletive).”
At the press conference during fight week, the two nearly came to blows after McGregor swatted Diaz’s clenched fist out of the way, prompting Diaz’s entourage to rush the stage and give security a scare.
In an effort to get maximum exposure in the days leading up to the fight, the UFC booked the fighters anywhere it could, including a strange appearance on CNBC, which required host Jane Wells to begin by explaining that she was “going to talk about money, because we are the business network.”
“I’ll take over from here, Nate,” McGregor shot back. “You can bounce.”
Diaz got visibly uncomfortable as Wells attempted to ask him about his finances and his payout for the fight.
“Who gives a (expletive)?” Diaz mumbled, almost to himself. “What is this, the money channel?”
Then finally, on March 5, 2016, it was go time. McGregor entered as a 4-1 favorite in the bout, but as he walked to the cage in the MGM Grand Garden Arena that night, the UFC commentator Rogan made what would prove to be a prescient observation.
“We have not seen (McGregor) in trouble,” Rogan said. “We have not seen him rocked. We have not seen him tested. We also have not seen him fight a guy who’s as long and as slick with his boxing as Nate Diaz.”
If McGregor was concerned, you couldn’t tell. He entered the cage and walked immediately to the center, posing with his arms stretched wide as Diaz paced in his corner with an even more ferocious version his usual scowl. When referee Herb Dean brought them together for the pre-fight instructions, both men were too busy jawing at one another to listen.
McGregor would continue that strategy throughout the first round, talking to Diaz as he slipped and threw. While Diaz circled on the outside, McGregor charged in behind his powerful left hand, tossing off overhands and uppercuts and spinning kicks like he was already picturing the highlights in his head.
Diaz, on the other hand, stayed patient, even as the damage began to show. As McGregor found his range with the left in the latter half of the opening round, blood started to trickle from a cut around Diaz’s right eye.
Diaz briefly took McGregor down off a kick in the final minute, only to be swept and end the round on bottom up against the fence, essentially solidifying the first round for the heavy favorite McGregor.
McGregor continued pushing the pace to start the second, firing off three more spinning kicks in the opening minute while taunting Diaz nearly every time the left hand landed.
But then, subtle hints of a shift. After a particularly busy blitz by McGregor, Diaz came back with a stiff jab. Later, a trademark “Stockton slap” from Diaz. McGregor loaded up on a left and missed. Little by little, he seemed to be slowing.
Then halfway through the second round Diaz caught McGregor leaning off to his left and tagged him with a two-punch combination, ending on a sharp left hand that knocked McGregor back onto his heels. Diaz came forward behind another combination, and now it was McGregor moving backwards for the first time.
It was in the 2nd round where the momentum completely shifted in Diaz's favor. He landed a 1-2 & began to drown McGregor with his high volume attack. pic.twitter.com/Rxge1u3EuJ
— MMA History Today (@MMAHistoryToday) March 5, 2018
Soon Diaz was suffocating him in the clinch, firing off short punches and knees while his blood nearly drenched McGregor’s torso. When they moved back out into space, Diaz landed the same one-two, stinging an exhausted McGregor with the straight left.
That’s when McGregor did the last thing most people expected and shot in low for a takedown. Was it desperation? Was it fatigue? Was he just out of good ideas and tired of being hit in the face? Or did he somehow think it was in his best interests to take the bigger man with the better grappling pedigree to the mat?
Whatever it was, he soon had reason to question his own decisions, as Diaz locked on a guillotine and then blocked McGregor’s attempt to circle into side control. With control of his neck, Diaz used the choke to flip McGregor to his back before moving to full mount and firing off just enough punches to convince McGregor to roll to his belly.
As soon as he exposed his back, Diaz slipped one arm under his chin and squeezed for the choke. McGregor made no attempt to defend the submission before reaching up and tapping out in the final minute of the second round. After all the sound and fury, McGregor’s first loss in the UFC came via that subtly meek gesture of surrender.
“I hope Conor McGregor stays offline for a couple of days,” Rogan said on the broadcast soon afterward.
As for Diaz, he soon found himself right back where he’d been a few months earlier after the win over Johnson, this time being asked to describe his feelings upon beating the much-hyped McGregor.
“Hey, I’m not surprised, mother(expletives),” said Diaz.
There hardly seemed to be anything else that needed to be said.
By the time the receipts were all totaled up, the event pulled in more than $8 million at the gate, plus a reported 1.3 million pay-per-view buys, making it one of the biggest UFC events of the modern era. The two would eclipse that mark with a rematch that August, drawing more than 1.6 million buys just five months later.
But while McGregor’s rivals and detractors were quick to jump on his loss with memes and gloating tweets, McGregor himself was dignified in defeat.
Showing up to the post-fight press conference in a crisp blue suit, McGregor admitted that he’d been “inefficient with my energy.” He made mistakes, he told reporters. But he wasn’t running and hiding from them, nor was he about to let his haters have the last laugh.
“This is the game,” said McGregor. “We win some, we lose some. I will never shy away from a challenge. I will never shy away from defeat. This is part of the game.”
Not many gave Diaz a chance to defeat Conor McGregor on 11 days notice, but he was not surprised…. pic.twitter.com/fzWchDG3ac
— MMA History Today (@MMAHistoryToday) March 5, 2018
For complete coverage of UFC 196, check out the UFC Events section of the site.
“Today in MMA History” is an MMAjunkie series created in association with MMA History Today, the social media outlet dedicated to reliving “a daily journey through our sport’s history.”
[usatlivegallery q=”MMA: UFC 196-McGregor vs Diaz” limit=”50″]
On March 5, 2016, Nate Diaz and Conor McGregor started as a backup plan and led to two of the biggest nights in UFC history.
(This story first published on March 5, 2018.)
[autotag]Nate Diaz[/autotag] stood in the octagon on Dec. 19, 2015, and listened patiently as UFC commentator Joe Rogan asked him to describe his feelings after beating Michael Johnson via unanimous decision at UFC on FOX 17 in Orlando, Fla.
“(Expletive) that,” Diaz replied, grabbing for the microphone and looking directly into the camera so that he might address his true audience, a fellow by the name of [autotag]Conor McGregor[/autotag].
For fans watching live on FOX in the U.S., where certain words simply aren’t allowed on television, the rant that followed was more beeps than words. But still, Diaz got his point across.
He was upset at McGregor. He thought McGregor might be reaping the rewards of other people’s hard work. He would like to face him in a professional prizefighting contest, please. It was his considered opinion that this contest would be more profitable for both parties than all other alternatives. And so forth.
The powers that be must have felt he made a compelling, eloquent case, because less than three months later Diaz would get that fight he asked for at UFC 196 in Las Vegas. This would lead a couple of the biggest nights in UFC history. And it all started with most Diazian of responses: “(Expletive) that.”
Granted, it wasn’t a direct line from Diaz’s callout to the granting of his wish. Then, as now, calling out the newly minted UFC featherweight champ McGregor was a pretty popular career move. It just didn’t typically go anywhere, since McGregor had his own ideas about his career trajectory, not to mention an uncanny ability to bend reality to meet his desires.
And McGregor? He was clear about what he wanted after a 13-second knockout of Jose Aldo at UFC 194. His plan, he told the world immediately after the fight, was to go straight up to lightweight to claim that belt as well.
Rafael dos Anjos, who successfully defended his 155-pound title against Donald Cerrone a week later, was open to the idea. While he told McGregor it was “better to stay in the featherweight division,” he readily agreed to the pairing. And why wouldn’t he? Like McGregor had promised during one notable earlier exchange, a fight with the Irish superstar was a guaranteed box office hit, not to mention a potential “red panty night” back at home.
But with the bout set for early March, things hit a snag in late February. It seemed dos Anjos had injured his foot in training. He was out of the fight, ruining McGregor’s plans for an epic champ-versus-champ showdown, and it was all happening roughly two weeks before the event. After everything he went through trying to get in the same cage with Aldo, it must have felt like deja vu all over again.
Fortunately, there was no shortage of volunteers to replace dos Anjos. Several names from different weight classes emerged as possibilities. Even the former featherweight champ Aldo was discussed as a possibility. But then, none of them had very recently been seen on network TV calling McGregor everything but a child of God.
UFC President Dana White later would claim Diaz was training for a triathlon when he got the call to fight McGregor. Diaz, however, disputed that claim, and in fact later posted video evidence that seemed to suggest he was, as he claimed, “on a yacht in (Cabo San Lucas, Mexico) getting my chillax on” with friends and teammates. According to the video, that process entailed at least a little bit of tequila.
Still, Diaz accepted the fight at welterweight, which McGregor would later claim as his suggestion once Diaz pushed back on the idea of making the cut to lightweight on such short notice.
Though dos Anjos pulled out of the fight, McGregor wanted to stay on the card.
With 11 days left until the event, the UFC brought in Nate Diaz to fight Conor McGregor at UFC 196. The bout would take place at Welterweight. pic.twitter.com/Bxxcm5mcPu
— MMA History Today (@MMAHistoryToday) March 5, 2018
At a UFC gym in Torrance, Calif., in late February the two made their first public appearance to promote the bout. Foregoing his usual three-piece suits in favor of a grey tank top, McGregor expressed an admiration for the Diaz brothers – even the one he was about to fight.
“I honestly like Nick’s little brother,” McGregor said. “How can you not like him? He’s like a little cholo gangster from the hood. But at the same time he coaches kids jiu-jitsu on a Sunday morning and goes on bike rides with the elderly. He makes gun signs with the right hand, and animal balloons with the left hand. You’re a credit to the community.”
Diaz, draped in a long-sleeve black shirt and jeans, replied in kind.
“(Expletive) you,” Diaz said. “(Expletive) your belt. I don’t give a (expletive) what you say, mother(expletive).”
And with that, the tone was pretty much set.
On paper, the pairing didn’t seem so spectacular. McGregor was the instant sensation up from a lower weight class. Diaz was a former lightweight contender and occasional middling welterweight who seemed to have settled into the middle of the pack as a free TV fighter who, if nothing else, was always fun to watch.
As a replacement for a superfight, it felt decidedly like what it was: a creative but still somewhat desperate back-up plan.
Still, it was the interplay of personalities that promised to make this fun. McGregor touted his fame, his drawing power, his commitment to elevating the game as a well-dressed international superstar with the power to change these bums’ lives just by letting them share the same cage with him for a night.
Diaz? Yeah, he didn’t play that.
“I don’t care if it’s all good or not all good,” he said in an interview a couple weeks before the bout. “When we fight, we’re going to fight – fight fight, for real fight. He thinks he’s a ninja? I’m the ninja. Ninja Gaiden, American Ninja, real mother(expletive) ninja. This ninja martial artist right here, I started that (expletive).”
At the press conference during fight week, the two nearly came to blows after McGregor swatted Diaz’s clenched fist out of the way, prompting Diaz’s entourage to rush the stage and give security a scare.
In an effort to get maximum exposure in the days leading up to the fight, the UFC booked the fighters anywhere it could, including a strange appearance on CNBC, which required host Jane Wells to begin by explaining that she was “going to talk about money, because we are the business network.”
“I’ll take over from here, Nate,” McGregor shot back. “You can bounce.”
Diaz got visibly uncomfortable as Wells attempted to ask him about his finances and his payout for the fight.
“Who gives a (expletive)?” Diaz mumbled, almost to himself. “What is this, the money channel?”
Then finally, on March 5, 2016, it was go time. McGregor entered as a 4-1 favorite in the bout, but as he walked to the cage in the MGM Grand Garden Arena that night, the UFC commentator Rogan made what would prove to be a prescient observation.
“We have not seen (McGregor) in trouble,” Rogan said. “We have not seen him rocked. We have not seen him tested. We also have not seen him fight a guy who’s as long and as slick with his boxing as Nate Diaz.”
If McGregor was concerned, you couldn’t tell. He entered the cage and walked immediately to the center, posing with his arms stretched wide as Diaz paced in his corner with an even more ferocious version his usual scowl. When referee Herb Dean brought them together for the pre-fight instructions, both men were too busy jawing at one another to listen.
McGregor would continue that strategy throughout the first round, talking to Diaz as he slipped and threw. While Diaz circled on the outside, McGregor charged in behind his powerful left hand, tossing off overhands and uppercuts and spinning kicks like he was already picturing the highlights in his head.
Diaz, on the other hand, stayed patient, even as the damage began to show. As McGregor found his range with the left in the latter half of the opening round, blood started to trickle from a cut around Diaz’s right eye.
Diaz briefly took McGregor down off a kick in the final minute, only to be swept and end the round on bottom up against the fence, essentially solidifying the first round for the heavy favorite McGregor.
McGregor continued pushing the pace to start the second, firing off three more spinning kicks in the opening minute while taunting Diaz nearly every time the left hand landed.
But then, subtle hints of a shift. After a particularly busy blitz by McGregor, Diaz came back with a stiff jab. Later, a trademark “Stockton slap” from Diaz. McGregor loaded up on a left and missed. Little by little, he seemed to be slowing.
Then halfway through the second round Diaz caught McGregor leaning off to his left and tagged him with a two-punch combination, ending on a sharp left hand that knocked McGregor back onto his heels. Diaz came forward behind another combination, and now it was McGregor moving backwards for the first time.
It was in the 2nd round where the momentum completely shifted in Diaz's favor. He landed a 1-2 & began to drown McGregor with his high volume attack. pic.twitter.com/Rxge1u3EuJ
— MMA History Today (@MMAHistoryToday) March 5, 2018
Soon Diaz was suffocating him in the clinch, firing off short punches and knees while his blood nearly drenched McGregor’s torso. When they moved back out into space, Diaz landed the same one-two, stinging an exhausted McGregor with the straight left.
That’s when McGregor did the last thing most people expected and shot in low for a takedown. Was it desperation? Was it fatigue? Was he just out of good ideas and tired of being hit in the face? Or did he somehow think it was in his best interests to take the bigger man with the better grappling pedigree to the mat?
Whatever it was, he soon had reason to question his own decisions, as Diaz locked on a guillotine and then blocked McGregor’s attempt to circle into side control. With control of his neck, Diaz used the choke to flip McGregor to his back before moving to full mount and firing off just enough punches to convince McGregor to roll to his belly.
As soon as he exposed his back, Diaz slipped one arm under his chin and squeezed for the choke. McGregor made no attempt to defend the submission before reaching up and tapping out in the final minute of the second round. After all the sound and fury, McGregor’s first loss in the UFC came via that subtly meek gesture of surrender.
“I hope Conor McGregor stays offline for a couple of days,” Rogan said on the broadcast soon afterward.
As for Diaz, he soon found himself right back where he’d been a few months earlier after the win over Johnson, this time being asked to describe his feelings upon beating the much-hyped McGregor.
“Hey, I’m not surprised, mother(expletives),” said Diaz.
There hardly seemed to be anything else that needed to be said.
By the time the receipts were all totaled up, the event pulled in more than $8 million at the gate, plus a reported 1.3 million pay-per-view buys, making it one of the biggest UFC events of the modern era. The two would eclipse that mark with a rematch that August, drawing more than 1.6 million buys just five months later.
But while McGregor’s rivals and detractors were quick to jump on his loss with memes and gloating tweets, McGregor himself was dignified in defeat.
Showing up to the post-fight press conference in a crisp blue suit, McGregor admitted that he’d been “inefficient with my energy.” He made mistakes, he told reporters. But he wasn’t running and hiding from them, nor was he about to let his haters have the last laugh.
“This is the game,” said McGregor. “We win some, we lose some. I will never shy away from a challenge. I will never shy away from defeat. This is part of the game.”
Not many gave Diaz a chance to defeat Conor McGregor on 11 days notice, but he was not surprised…. pic.twitter.com/fzWchDG3ac
— MMA History Today (@MMAHistoryToday) March 5, 2018
For complete coverage of UFC 196, check out the UFC Events section of the site.
“Today in MMA History” is an MMAjunkie series created in association with MMA History Today, the social media outlet dedicated to reliving “a daily journey through our sport’s history.”
[usatlivegallery q=”MMA: UFC 196-McGregor vs Diaz” limit=”50″]
Check out these photos from Nate Diaz’s submission win over Conor McGregor at UFC 196.
Check out these photos from [autotag]Nate Diaz[/autotag]’s submission victory over [autotag]Conor McGregor[/autotag] at UFC 196. (Photos by Mark J. Rebilas, USA TODAY Sports)
Nov 17, 2019; Regina, Saskatchewan, CAN; Winnipeg Blue Bombers quarterback Zach Collaros (8) looks to pass against the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the second half during the CFL Western Conference Final football game at Mosaic Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports
UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev cleared the air about the water bottle incident involving Nate Diaz at UFC 311.
UFC lightweight champion [autotag]Islam Makhachev[/autotag] was recently involved in an altercation with [autotag]Nate Diaz[/autotag], but assures he did not instigate the incident. He doesn’t even know what set Diaz off.
Makhachev (26-1 MMA, 15-1 UFC) and Diaz were under the same roof at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas; Makhachev for the UFC 311 on-sale press conference for his fight against Arman Tsarukyan and Diaz for the UFC 310 ceremonial weigh-ins to support his teammate Kron Gracie.
Suddenly, things popped off when Diaz began spewing expletives and threw a bottle in the direction of Makhachev and his team. Makhachev’s teammate Magomed Zaynukov responded by launching an object toward Diaz as security quickly intervened to de-escalate.
Looking back, Makhachev has no idea what caused things to spark and said he had to tell UFC CEO Dana White he wasn’t responsible.
“Next day they put me close to the cage,” Makhachev told Demetrious Johnson in an interview on his YouTube channel. “I sit with Dana, and Dana come to me and said, ‘You are troublemaker.’ I said, ‘Hey Dana, it’s not my fault.’
“We sit before the fight day, I had press conference, fighters have official weigh-in, We sit and Diaz started to show them (a middle finger). For what? Maybe for someone it’s good, no problem, but it’s not our style.”
Makhachev explained one of his teammates was wearing a mask and perhaps Diaz thought it was Khabib Nurmagomedov covering his face, but it was not him.
The situation quickly fizzled, but Makhachev didn’t fully understand why Diaz would do something like that, even if it was Nurmagomedov.
“You know what’s interesting, maybe five, six months ago, I meet Diaz in the elevator in the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas,” Makachev said. “He goes to cross to me and says, ‘Respect, respect, respect,’ and just walked. But what changed now? When a lot of cameras come, they always people change.
“We don’t have something, I don’t know. If I have something with him, I can fix it in the Wynn Hotel, but he come to me, like two meters, and said, ‘Respect, respect,’ and then he go. But when camera come, things change, you know. … And people think I start this. I’m not starting this.”
Makhachev then explained how security wanted to remove his team from the arena before his interview were complete, but the UFC champ said his team wouldn’t be separated. Instead, all of his remaining interviews were scrapped and everyone left together.
On Jan. 18, Makhachev returns to action to face Tsarukyan (22-3 MMA, 9-2 UFC) in the main event of UFC 311 at Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif. The title fight is a rematch from their first meeting in April 2019, but with much higher stakes.
Nate Diaz’s realness resonates with Drake, which is why the Stockton star is his favorite UFC fighter of all time.
When [autotag]Conor McGregor[/autotag] fought Floyd Mayweather in the second biggest boxing event of all time, Drake was on his side. When McGregor walked on stage to weigh in for the biggest MMA fight of his career against Khabib Nurmagomedov back at UFC 229, Drake was part of his crew.
Knowing that, one might conclude that McGregor isDrake’s favorite UFC fighter – but he’s not. So who is? Surprisingly, Drake’s favorite UFC fighter of all time is one of McGregor’s biggest rivals, [autotag]Nate Diaz[/autotag].
“I’m gonna answer this question strictly based on just somebody who, to me, is the most thorough. Like, you just can’t get more thorough than this guy,” Drake said. “I respect people that you are where you’re from, and nothing else will change you – money, the wins, nothing. So, to me, it’s Nate. That’s my favorite fighter because Nate is just crazy through and through.”
Drake didn’t completely forget about McGregor. He added a shoutout to the former UFC two-division champion.
“Obviously, of course, I have other favorite fighters,” Drake said. “You know, like, I love Conor with all my heart. That’s my guy.”
McGregor and Diaz squared off in a memorable two-part series that they split back in 2016. At UFC 196, Diaz submitted McGregor with a rear-naked choke in one of the most shocking results in UFC history. Then at UFC 202, McGregor and Diaz had a five-round war, with McGregor victorious by majority decision.
Jake Paul and Nate Diaz already boxed once, and now there’s some tension building over talks of an MMA bout.
The rivalry has reignited.
[autotag]Jake Paul[/autotag] and [autotag]Nate Diaz[/autotag] have each other’s name falling out of their mouths.
In a media roundtable press conference Friday in Orlando, Paul joined his advisor, Nakisa Bidarian, and fellow boxer Amanda Serrano to field questions from reporters.
Paul shed light on the potential he fights in MMA in 2025 and said it’ll largely depend on what opponent is willing to say yes to a matchup. Paul currently has an agreement in place with PFL that both parties say signifies he’ll compete in MMA under the banner eventually.
“We want to, but our opponents don’t actually really want to,” Paul said (via FightHype.com). “It’s funny. Nate Diaz is actually scared to fight me in MMA – actually. The biggest payday of his life would be me and him in MMA. … I’m ready.”
Bidarian interrupted his client and added, “(Diaz) hides behind PFL as the reason he won’t do it.”
It didn’t take long for Diaz to dispute these claims. He posted a video of Paul’s comments on social media, but added his own written commentary.
“Sign the contract Scary and not 12 months from now and in a sh*tty organization,” Diaz wrote.
Sign the contract Scary and not in 12 months from now and in a shitty organization pic.twitter.com/fptB1I8tNv
Paul and Diaz already have thrown down but in a boxing match in August 2023. Paul defeated Diaz by unanimous decision. Since then, Diaz has competed one other time in combat sports, a majority decision win in boxing against fellow former UFC star Jorge Masvidal.
Meanwhile, Paul has gone 4-0 with wins over Andre August, Ryan Bourland, Mike Perry, and Mike Tyson.
Rafael dos Anjos, who successfully defended his 155-pound title against Donald Cerrone a week later, was open to the idea. While he told McGregor it was “better to stay in the featherweight division,” he readily agreed to the pairing. And why wouldn’t he? Like McGregor had promised during one notable earlier exchange, a fight with the Irish superstar was a guaranteed box office hit, not to mention a potential “red panty night” back at home.
“I honestly like Nick’s little brother,” McGregor said. “How can you not like him? He’s like a little cholo gangster from the hood. But at the same time he coaches kids jiu-jitsu on a Sunday morning and goes on bike rides with the elderly. He makes gun signs with the right hand, and animal balloons with the left hand. You’re a credit to the community.”
Diaz briefly took McGregor down off a kick in the final minute, only to be swept and end the round on bottom up against the fence, essentially solidifying the first round for the heavy favorite McGregor.
As soon as he exposed his back, Diaz slipped one arm under his chin and squeezed for the choke. McGregor made no attempt to defend the submission before reaching up and tapping out in the final minute of the second round. After all the sound and fury, McGregor’s first loss in the UFC came via that subtly meek gesture of surrender.
