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After three years away from the fight game, Nate Diaz will make his long-awaited return to action when he faces off against Anthony Pettis in the co-main event of UFC 241 this Saturday night (Aug. 17, 2019) in Anaheim, CA.
Nate’s hiatus had long been a mystery, with Diaz saying he wouldn’t return unless the money and the opponent were correct, while UFC president Dana White was adamant Nate was being offered good fights, he simply turned them all down.
During a recent sit-down with ESPN, the Stockton slugger cleared up the air.
“It was just—I felt like I won my last fight,” Diaz said in regards to his decision loss to Conor McGregor at UFC 202. “I’m not gonna cry over spilt milk, it’s just what it is, especially in this UFC game because I’ve lost a lot of fights that I didn’t lose and even if, let’s just say more so than I think like, I for sure didn’t lose that fight. They treated it like, ‘You lost, go down the list. Get outta here’ type of thing. When [McGregor] lost the first time to me, it was the biggest thing, and he needed his rematch and he’s obsessed with Nate and all this marketing towards how much he needs to get this back and how great he is for actually jumping in there and doing it,” he said as transcribed by MMA Fighting.
To hear Diaz tell it, the real fight has always been with UFC, as he didn’t appreciate the fact that the promotion was going above and beyond to give McGregor what he wanted, rematches included, which is an opportunity that wasn’t offered to him.
“Hold up. What about all the rematches I’ve always wanted? That’s the s*it what I should have jumped in with my contract, like, ‘Hold up, if I’m gonna do this rematch, I want all my rematches that you guys never gave me.’ I should have done that, but I’ve lost a lot of good months of my life just sitting there sweating fights I’ve lost I didn’t lose. And I’m like, you guys motherf*cking paid me way too much to be sitting here playing this stupid-ass game and doing what you guys want me to do, so I’m cool, I’m gonna step it out. Then two years flew by.”
With Diaz still out, McGregor went on to become UFC champ-champ, partook in a boxing match against Floyd Mayweather, and ultimately lost his Lightweight title to Khabib Nurmagomedov. Meanwhile, Nate says no big name took the chance to call him out. But watching UFC just hand Conor the keys to everything, was something that didn’t sit too well with him.
“The whole time I’m sitting there waiting, like, when is someone gonna step they stupid-ass up and start calling for a fight? Because that’s what I did,” Diaz said. “You’re the guy getting all the love and all the s*it that I’ve worked hard for and they’re just handing it over and promoting it and I put work in. And if you’re not thinking this guy’s getting what you worked for, you’re f*cking not working hard enough. That’s thought of over miles and rounds and over training f*cking thoughts. A lot of work was put into those thoughts. If you’re not spittin’ that and saying that s*it, then you shouldn’t even be in that position. So I saw what was happening and I went out and took it. ‘Okay, this is what I’m about to do.’ Two years flew by, I’m like, I ain’t gotta be beggin’ nobody to f*cking fight. I don’t need to fight,” he added.
“I beat the best guy at the moment, I beat the best guy, and you guys are just treating me like, vanished, then I’m like, ‘Oh well f*ck me, so f*ck you.’ But then after a certain while I’m like, what’s wrong with all these fighters? I’m a bigger draw, a bigger fight than anybody in the game and you guys are going to just sit back and not participate and ‘black sheep’ me—not ‘black sheep,’ it’s like ‘ostracized,’ put me on the outskirts of the whole conversation. ‘He dropped from the rankings, he’s this, that, he’s turning down fights.’ I’m like, dude, you’re going to start offering me prelim fighters and be like, ‘He turned this down.’ You guys were using that against me.”
Still, Nate makes it very clear he was never once waiting for a trilogy fight with McGregor.
“I wasn’t waiting for him for a second,” Diaz said. “I’ve done the whole game. I’m a top-2 fighter in the whole game right now, three, maybe, Jon Jones. Three. And that’s not fighting for three years,” Diaz continued. “I don’t need to fight. I sneeze loud and everybody hears about it. But then it’s like, hold up, you guys just want me to sit out and vent, this is what everybody wants, so I’m over here, like, not feeling—I said it after the fight the first time that I was institutionalized in this fight game and stuff, and it really stayed like that. What’s happening was I’m telling myself to take it easy and don’t try and do stuff because I’m not fighting. I’m like, f*ck all that, so I’m training these last three years harder than anybody fighting, so it’s wear and tear. If I’m gonna be training with all my fighters for their fights and training for a lifestyle—it’s been my hobby to train.”
Finally, UFC was able to lock down a suitable big name for Nate’s return, as Anthony Pettis has a history as champion and one of the most exiting fighters in the game. Plus, it doesn’t hurt that he and Diaz have some bad blood them between them.
“I want to just get back to what I do and I didn’t even want to fight when I was fighting for all those years, it’s just what I did, I was on orders from the coach and my bro and living the lifestyle institutionalizing me… So it made my whole life arranged that now,” added Nate.
“Because I’ve been fighting for—I’m younger than everybody, I’m 34, I’ve been fighting since I was 18, 19 years old. How many years is that? I’m the youngest O.G. in this whole s*it. I’m still here, I’m still winning the series too. Still hopping in and fighting top contenders, doing my thing.”