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Nate Diaz says he isn’t retired.
Nate Diaz recently took to Instagram seemingly announcing a hiatus or retirement from mixed martial arts. He changed his tune on getting another crack at the BMF title winner, saying “F—k a rematch this s—t was over before it started. I’m goin on out on tour. Peace out fight game.”
When asked about what many interpreted as a retirement post, Diaz insists that isn’t the case.
“Who said I was retired?” Diaz told ESPN. “I’ll fight tonight.”
Diaz didn’t reveal his actual future plans, but prior to his UFC 244 bout, he did discuss his love-hate relationship with the fight game. He says that he doesn’t really “need” to fight anymore, but isn’t comfortable just sitting around either.
“I’ll never have to fight again (after UFC 244),” Diaz said. “I didn’t have to fight a long time ago. But what am I going to do? I’ve got all kinds of other stuff going on, but … I don’t like not fighting.
“I think (fighting) is the best thing for me,” he continued. “It’s weird because it’s self-destructive fighting, and it’s self-destructive not fighting. Kill or be killed. Like I said before, it’d kill him with it, it’d kill him without it. I don’t want to do this (expletive) at all, but sitting back watching somebody else do it is not comfortable for me.”
Diaz, 34, has been fighting professionally for 15 years now.