Zahabi: Nate Diaz beats 99% of fighters in a no-time limit bout

Firas Zahabi banks on Nate Diaz to come out on top in an anything goes fight with no rules and no time limit.

In the scorecards, Nate Diaz lost his UFC 263 five-rounder to Leon Edwards. But in his mind, as it’s always been, he’s never been defeated. Especially if they were playing by the (lack of) rules outside of the sport setting.

“In a real fight, in the real world, that fight’s a wrap. He was sleepwalking,” the uniquely charismatic Diaz said during his post-fight scrum.

Many would scoff at this statement, but for some of the sport’s most brilliant minds, there is an argument to be made. In his recent Q&A, renowned coach Firas Zahabi had this to say about Diaz.

If you put him in a fight where there’s no time limit, I think he beats 99 percent of the fighters, I’m telling you. You can’t sub him, you can’t finish him, the guy doesn’t stop walking forward. He puts volume on you. He is the scariest, in my opinion, street fighter in MMA. Nate Diaz is one of the scariest street fighters.

I think if you had to fight him in the street, you’re in for a fight for your life. There ain’t gonna be no [referees] standing you up between rounds, there’s no judge to come and give you the win. This guy ain’t going away. If he had a no-time limit fight with Leon Edwards, he beats Leon Edwards.

The knock to that is that’s not our sport. Our sport is you agree to five five-minute rounds, and we’re prepping for that. Of course, Leon Edwards could’ve done a different preparation if he was fighting a no-time-limits fight. I just think that even with that different preparation, I think Diaz wins.

Unfortunately for Nate, the UFC has been long removed from its no-rules, no-time limit era. He will still have to deal with the two straight losses on his current record.