Esther Lin, MMA Fighting
Diaz has laid out the kind of opponents he wants, and whoever Colby Covington is does not meet his standards.
Nate Diaz returned to the cage for the first time in three years on Saturday night at UFC 241, but you wouldn’t know it based on his performance. Any ring rust he felt was shucked off by the end of the first round and at the end of the third judges gave him a decisive decision victory over Anthony Pettis (watch the highlights here).
It was a massive win for Diaz that positioned him as a potential superstar for the UFC. As UFC president Dana White finally admitted, Nate was moving the needle. But for as good as he is at combat sports and how his demeanor may make you think otherwise, Nate doesn’t actually enjoy the fight itself.
”When you’re in it you’re like ‘What the f**k did I come sign up for this for? I don’t enjoy this at all!’” Diaz said during the UFC 241 post-fight show on ESPN+. “Cause that’s what you guys, you enjoy it right? No, I don’t enjoy it at all. But I do enjoy getting it done, what I’ve been doing for so long.”
Diaz went into more detail on all that during the press conference.
”I don’t want to be all full of myself and cocky and s**t but I got way too much money to be having to fight somebody that’s not interesting,” he said. “I’m an entrepreneur, I’ve got all sorts of s**t going on and it’s been good, it’s fun. I like the healthy lifestyle, training for something, getting something done, the feeling of getting the job done in what started in the first place, that’s what I’m into.”
As for what interests him these days? Gangsters like Jorge Masvidal. But here’s a more detailed breakdown of what qualifications Diaz is looking for in an opponent.
”People who have been around and can still be on top just like I have? It’s like, you’ve got to recognize that and spit it,” he said. “And those are the fights I want to see if I’m watching. The realest and the best fighters, the best martial artists fighting each other. Not no phony ass s**t with some guy who’s been in the UFC for two years, had a couple good fights and is the champ. We’ll see if they’re still champs next year or the year after. Or even around at all. Because I’ve been here before they got here, I’ll be here after they got here [sic], and that’s what I like about Pettis and Masvidal.”
Diaz wants to fight exciting martial artists, not technicians looking to ‘win via loopholes.’ Sounds like a not so subtle shot at the Usmans and Covingtons of the organization, but Diaz claims he doesn’t even know who Colby Covington is. Must be nice.
”Who? Who is he?” he asked quite convincingly. “What weight? I don’t know who that is so if we got somebody good to fight, that’s who I want to fight, that’s what I’m saying. You got to do something. If you’ve been here for two weeks and get a little hype show, I don’t give a s**t.”