For all their popularity, the Diaz brothers are notoriously reclusive.
So it was a special—if slightly jarring—treat for MMA fans when Nick and Nate Diaz sat down with Anthony Bourdain for a segment of Parts Unknown, Bourdain’s popular travel/food/culture/nightlife show on CNN.
The first episode of the show’s ninth season premiered Sunday and focused on the Latino communities in Los Angeles. As part of this, the Diaz brothers, who hail from Stockton, California, met Bourdain for seafood and a few cans of Tecate. The UFC fighters were also joined by a longtime friend and training partner, UFC lightweight and ESPN analyst Gilbert Melendez.
Among the revelations? The Diaz brothers dished on what they ate for lunch growing up—mac ‘n cheese with hot dogs—and their favorite food spots in L.A.—Nate likes vegan lunch spot Cafe Gratitude.
But there was deeper conversation, too. One of the things that makes Nick Diaz so compelling is his contradictory personality. For example, he has a pretty rugged exterior, but he is also a committed vegetarian.
“I’ve been a vegetarian since I was like 18 years old,” the 33-year-old Nick told Bourdain. “It would just be easier cutting weight when I was on a vegetarian diet. I end up nice and light, and I get stronger.”
Nate, 32, shared the story of the first fight he can recall. It didn’t sound like a good experience. He said:
I was in sixth grade, and we went down to the baseball field. You catch a foul ball, you got a free soda or a bag of chips or something. I caught the ball, and one of the baseball players was mad because there was a littler kid who was waiting to catch the ball. And I was like, ‘Shut up, I’ve been waiting all day for this ball’. … I’ve never been punched in my face so many times in my life.
Bourdain, a jiu-jitsu practitioner and avid MMA fan himself, couldn’t let the moment pass without predicting a rubber match between Nate Diaz and a certain Conor McGregor. According to the TV host, McGregor only won the rematch with Diaz because he “ran like a deer.”
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