The always brash and formidably combatant Nate Diaz made a huge statement to the entire UFC lightweight division this past Saturday at The Ultimate Fighter 18 Finale after dismantling Gray Maynard midway through the first round.
The brutal finish that left Maynard stumbling to the ground was not only significant in the fact that it solidified the two fighters’ trilogy, but more importantly, it put Diaz back in the win column following a crippling April loss to the resurgent Josh Thomson.
Following his victory, Diaz delivered more of his usual media-driven banter as he eluded to sitting out until he gets a shot at the lightweight belt.
“I think I’ll sit on the sideline for a good long minute until someone gets injured and I get a title fight,” said Diaz during the post-fight press conference, originally reported by MMAMania.
Nobody knows for sure if the Stockton bruiser is completely serious, but based on his track record of creating buzz and calling out another fighter, he was probably eluding to divisional champ Anthony Pettis and his short road to a championship.
Remember, “Showtime” was granted a shot at former champion Benson Henderson earlier this year on the heels of a TJ Grant injury, whose most recent victory also came against Maynard via TKO.
“I do have a lot of losses on my record, and other people have a lot criticism and sh*t to talk about me losing fights,” added Diaz. “But if you take a look at my record compared to other people’s record, for every two fights, I’ve fought six, seven times. So if they’re fighting the same amount, and more consistent like I am, they’re going to have more losses than me. So maybe I’ll sit around for a while and wait for an injury to pop up.”
Now while it’s highly unlikely that Diaz will actually sit out and wait for a future top contender to get hurt, yet again, it’s good to see he’s still mixing things up atop the division.
Not to mention that Gilbert Melendez, who is arguably the most well-rounded lightweight fighter on planet, continues to ride shotgun in the Diaz mobile.
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