“He’s been sparring, he’s been running, he’s been training like he has a fight.”
Nate Diaz is currently without an opponent but the Stockton local is training like he has a fight coming up according to teammate Nick Maximov, who is set to make his octagon debut against Karl Robinson at UFC 266.
Diaz was expected to take another hiatus following his decision loss to Leon Edwards at UFC 263 but, according to Maximov, the former lightweight title challenger is already in fight shape and training hard every day at the gym.
Still, there’s no word on Diaz’ next opponent although the Californian did recently hint at a fight against No. 4-ranked welterweight Vicente Luque.
“I actually asked him last night (who he is fighting next) and I don’t think that there is anything is on the table right now,” Maximov told James Lynch in a recent interview (h/t BJPenn.com). “If you look at the December card, Dustin (Poirier) is on it now, they’ve got a couple of championship fights. I’m not super sure what’s happening with that, but I know he wants to fight. He’s been sparring, he’s been running, he’s been training like he has a fight. It’s cool because with our camp if someone has a fight, everyone has a fight. So everyone’s in shape, everyone looks good, and Nate looks really good right now.”
Diaz is currently one of the hottest commodities in MMA despite being one of the most inactive fighters on the UFC roster and losing three out of his last four fights. He isn’t currently ranked at welterweight.