Author: Anton Tabuena

Rory MacDonald discussed the rumors of a possible return of his teammate and former UFC champ, Georges St-Pierre.

Nate Diaz wants big fights against Georges St-Pierre and Robbie Lawler, but also doesn’t want to step on his brother’s toes at welterweight.

Nate Diaz has made it clear that following his win over Conor McGregor, he wants the biggest fight possible next. Dana White suggested a title bout against Robbie Lawler “makes sense”, while Georges St-Pierre’s coach has called for a bout against Nate as well.

Before UFC 196, Diaz was asking for that very bout against St-Pierre, but recent statements now make it seem like he is hesitating a little bit. Nate told ESPN that he is probably leaning towards the lightweight title rematch against Rafael dos Anjos instead.

“I’m thinking probably the lightweight title fight, whatever is biggest,” Diaz said. “The biggest thing with Lawler and GSP — I would have been all about those fights and I am, but at the same time, my brother [Nick] is coming back and those are his fights. Those are Nick Diaz fights. I’m not trying to step on his shoes. We’ll see how things play out. As far as rematches go, I lost close decisions and never got a rematch.”

“I’m not asking for anything. I’m demanding more than everybody. I want more than everybody, straight up. Money talks. I want the biggest fight. Whoever I’ve got to fight — the biggest show, biggest payday — that’s what I want.”

If Diaz wants the biggest payday among those three, it certainly won’t be a Dos Anjos rematch.

While I understand hesitating to campaign in a division that your brother competes in, Nate definitely shouldn’t decline any massive bout that comes his way, as it doesn’t automatically mean they pass it on to Nick if he declines.

There’s also a matter of timing. Nick’s shortened suspension ends on August 1st, while Lawler and St-Pierre (if he really decides to return) are likely to compete at or near UFC 200 in July.

Renzo Gracie talks about Nate Diaz, and how the UFC and the sport in general needs Conor McGregor.

Nate Diaz is a Brazilian jiujitsu black belt under Cesar Gracie, and he credits several members of the Gracie family for his success. Renzo Gracie, who Nate mentions as one of his main inspirations in martial arts, is obviously a fan of the traditional approach the Diaz brothers have towards jiujitsu.

Renzo spoke about Nick and Nate being “good kids” with excellent jiujitsu, but the 6th degree black belt also gave McGregor props, saying the Irishman is is great for the sport.

“Conor is unbelievable. We need 10 Conor McGregors in this business,” Renzo told Louder Noise. “The reality is he brought so much attention, he made the sport grow so much. He made people who never watched (MMA) join the scene. I definitely want Conor McGregor to be fighting for the next 20 years.”

Watch the full MMA Noise segment above, where Renzo also spoke about his student Frankie Edgar, deserving the next shot at McGregor’s belt.

Jake Shields put money on his teammate Nate Diaz at UFC 196.

Looks like it wasn’t just Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz who made money off that UFC 196 main event. Jake Shields has revealed that he put money on Diaz despite his teammate coming in on extremely short notice.

“I absolutely thought Nate was going to win. I went and bet money on him,” Shields told Sherdog. “There were things I was worried about. Like the fact that Nate was in Cabo right before the fight. Him and [Gilbert Melendez] were out in Cabo, drinking, eating, you know, having fun and partying, not training, so that was in the back of my head.”

“Nate’s a cardio freak, so I was like, ‘Well hopefully that doesn’t hurt him.’ I definitely thought Nate was gonna win. I think Conor’s a great fighter, but I think he got a little overhyped.”

Related: Video: Nate Diaz wasn’t training for a triathlon before UFC 196, he was drinking patron on a yacht

Shields also spoke more about the contest with MMA Fighting.

“I believed in him regardless,” Shields said. “Obviously definitely the camp would’ve been a lot better, but I still like Nate was just the smarter fighter, the bigger fighter. I felt like he had a lot more experience.”

“I knew it was over when he went for the takedown,” Shields claimed. “You could see it actually before that. He landed a couple of shots and you could see it in Conor’s face that he was broke. Conor hasn’t really been in a war like that, if ever or a long time. I’ve never seen Conor in a war. He’s used to going out there and bullying people. That’s something I knew. Nate’s a true warrior. If it does go deep and they try to battle, Nate’s going to keep going.”

Urijah Faber took photos and drew overlays on a sleeping Jon Jones for his snapchat feed.

Jon Jones, Urijah Faber, and several other stars were together this past week to do UFC media activities. When the former light heavyweight champion fell asleep while they were in transit, Faber decided to take photos and poke fun at him.

Faber drew overlays on these photos, and sent it to his snapchat feed. The social media app only stores content for a limited time, but we have screen grabs of Urijah’s snaps courtesy of BE Reader Nutson Yachin:

Faber also gets creative on his instagram feed:

And yes I have been hired by @ufc to get @domcruz619 more followers on social media. He is who I’m fighting June 4th for the @ufc belt. This is his first mag cover & a pic from our first fight. Let’s help him get to 150k followers. His name is Dominic Cruz.

A photo posted by Urijah Faber (@urijahfaber) on Mar 7, 2016 at 3:26pm PST

Who u gonna call!!?? Ghostbusters! @chadmendes @cody_nolove #janitor

A photo posted by Urijah Faber (@urijahfaber) on Mar 11, 2016 at 11:58am PST

Shortly after vanquishing Slimer, Faber has earned another title shot, and is set to face long time rival Dominick Cruz at UFC 199 this June.

Watch UFC star Nate Diaz joke about Justin Bieber, and retirement rumors.

Following his massive win over Conor McGregor, Nate Diaz was in a jovial mood as he spoke to Extra TV at Universal Studios Hollywood. He addressed the recent online beef with pop star Justin Bieber, who was rooting for McGregor and called his style “terrible”.

“(Bieber), and I saw Drake too. They put their opinions out, but they must not be too hardcore fans of the sport, because they’re riding the bandwagon,” Diaz laughed. “They put their opinions out on how they were going for (McGregor)… This is America!”

“The real fighters, the real martial artists, the real fans of the sport, they knew who was gonna win that fight,” he said.

When asked what he would do if Bieber was in front of him, Diaz said “smack!” as he motioned his arm in a slapping motion.

“It’s all good, Bieber’s all good,” Diaz laughed. “It’s whatever.”

Diaz also responded to retirement rumors, one actually started by UFC President Dana White, saying Nate earned so much money for UFC 196, we may not see him again anytime soon.

“No,” Diaz said when asked if he heard about any retirement rumors. “But that sounds interesting. I might do that.”

Nate, who has grown even more popular after his big win, seemed very comfortable doing interviews with this non-MMA media outlet. He also noted how White has yet to call him about UFC 200 or a possible next fight for him