Nate Diaz finally found the fight he’s been craving.
After much drama concerning when (or if) Diaz would ever return to the cage, the Stockton bad boy broke his silence, reaching out to MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani to request a fight.
Diaz, a lightweight, apparently wants no part of his division anymore and is willing to step up to 170 pounds to face the streaking Matt Brown—who recently finished Erick Silva at UFC Fight Night 40.
“I want the Matt Brown fight,” Diaz told MMA Fighting. “That’s what I’m looking for. I’m trying to fight the baddest m———–s out there. I’m not trying to fight some lame ass fighter that they’re trying to build off of me.”
This bout is particularly interesting because Brown recently called out Nate’s brother, Nick, after pounding Silva to the canvas in Cincinnati.
Like Nate, Nick has been out of action for some time, and questions about his Octagon return linger on a daily basis in the MMA world.
In calling out Brown, Nate succinctly cleared up his brother’s standing with the promotion, putting to rest any idea that the former welterweight title challenger will fight in the near future.
“My brother is retired,” Diaz told MMA Fighting. “So if this guy wants to fight a Diaz, he’s got to fight me.”
Both Nick and Nate Diaz play into Brown’s strengths on the feet well, and a fight with either brother has to look appetizing for “The Immortal.”
However, Nate has previously fought at welterweight, and the results were less than stellar. He’s been ragdolled and totally controlled by the larger men, losing back-to-back unanimous decisions to Dong Hyun Kim and Rory MacDonald in 2011 before stepping back down to lightweight.
Brown, however, is not a grappler at heart. He doesn’t want to take his opponents down and work his top game. He wants to smash. And smashing is exactly what he’s done inside the Octagon of late.
A fight with Diaz represents an impossibly fan-friendly bout, and it also sets up a monstrous fight for the future.
Imagine if Brown knocks out Diaz, takes the mic post-fight and calls out Mr. Nick Diaz.
That sounds like a challenge that’s just impossible to ignore, doesn’t it?
In defeating Nate Diaz, Brown could finally pull Nick out of retirement, creating what would become the most anticipated No. 1 contender’s bout in welterweight history.
This sounds great from a fan’s perspective, but Brown doused the flames of excitement a bit in a response to MMA Fighting.
“I respect what he said about wanting to fight the baddest m———–s, but I have to talk to my manager,” Brown said.
Let’s hope Brown’s manager sees the full beauty of this potential showdown—both for the fans’ and UFC’s sake.
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