Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Nate Diaz drops the name he wants to fight next.
After a three-year layoff, Nate Diaz bounced back big in his UFC return with an impressive win over Anthony Pettis. With a significant win over a former UFC champion, he is looking to keep himself more active moving forward.
Diaz, in fact, already has a next opponent in mind.
“With this belt, I want to defend it against… Jorge Masvidal had a good last fight,” he told Joe Rogan during the Octagon interview. “Good last fight. All respect to the man, but there ain’t no gangsters in this game anymore. There ain’t nobody who does it right but me and him.
“So I know my man’s a gangster, but he ain’t no West Coast gangster.”
The 34-year-old Diaz already mentioned Masvidal’s name as a potential opponent during a fight week interview with ESPN’s Brett Okamoto.
“Masvidal just did his thing the other day. That was great. Stuff like that, with all due respect, motivates you to fight that person because they’ve done some great sh-t. Stick that in my bag of great sh-t.”
Masvidal was supposed fight a Diaz brother early this year. “Gamebred” was scheduled to fight the elder Nick at UFC 235 in March, but the matchup ended up falling through. He instead fought at UFC 239 last month, where he scored a record-breaking five-second flying knee knockout win over Ben Askren.