Nate Diaz might not have a fight lined up right now, but the man is always working. Speaking with Ariel Helwani of MMAFighting.com at UFC 188, Stockton’s finest ripped into two of the lightweight division’s best fighters in one epic interview (warning, NSFW language).
“I think Gilbert Melendez won Rounds 1 and 2, and I don’t think [Eddie] Alvarez did much of anything,” he said, discussing the UFC 188 co-main event where Melendez, his longtime friend and teammate, dropped a narrow split decision to Alvarez. “[Alvarez] broke his whole [expletive] and his whole face is broken. Gilbert hopped on the bus…they’re sending him home…and I think Eddie Alvarez went to the hospital. You tell me who won.”
Diaz didn’t stop there, though. He also had some pointed words for former lightweight champion Anthony Pettis, who was in attendance for the event.
“Pettis around here, acting like he’s all tight but all these [expletive] are scared to look in my face,” he said, referring to an apparent off-camera exchange of words between the two (which was discussed on Twitter, with more NSFW language). “Everyone acts like they want to fight somebody, but they’re gonna look at the ground when they walk by me and act tight in the corner.”
Needless to say, this is par for the course with Diaz. The former lightweight contender has made a career of amplifying the visibility and excitement of his bouts using ruthless smack talk and occasional pushing and shoving. Despite that brashness, he has always been quick to come to the defense of his fellow Skrap Pack members: Jake Shields, Gilbert Melendez and Nick Diaz.
Unfortunately, Diaz is on an ugly skid right now and is a humble 1-3 over his last four fights. His most recent bout was an ugly showing opposite Rafael dos Anjos at UFC on Fox 13, where he came in overweight and was visibly sluggish opposite the soon-to-be lightweight champion. Before that, he spent a full 12 months out of the cage due to a lengthy contract dispute (more NSFW language, can you believe it?) and suffered an ugly knockout loss to Josh Thomson.
His most recent win came opposite Gray Maynard, whom he brutally finished via punches, but that win looks substantially less impressive given Maynard’s terrible decline over recent years.
Nevertheless, Diaz has set the stage for a number of potential high-profile bouts, courtesy of his deceptively (or perhaps coincidentally) brilliant promotional skills.
Diaz does not have a fight scheduled but called out both Pettis and Alvarez: “Anthony Pettis or [expletive] Eddie Alvarez…if any of you wants to man up and fight the real fighters, we can go get it.”
Even so, Diaz made it clear he believes the score between Alvarez and Cesar Gracie Jiu-Jitsu is currently favoring the latter: “Gilbert won, so [expletive] you, Eddie.”
Both of those fights would be amazing spectacles before, during and after fight night. Here is hoping one or both of them can come to fruition.
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