Nate Diaz shook things up in a massive way at UFC 196, taking out the promotion’s most marketable fighter Conor McGregor on just 11 days notice. It was the first loss for ‘The Notorious’ under the UFC banner, and he was originally meant to face lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos in the pay-per-view main event. The featherweight belt was still intact, but what was somewhat left in tatters was McGregor’s immediate future. What was certain is Nate Diaz’s coming of age.
He’d worked hard under the Zuffa banner for nearly 10 years before the McGregor fight, and he’d finally landed the massive media attention that had always eluded him before. Taking the fight on just 11 days notice proved to be a minor factor, as Diaz choked McGregor in to submission in front of millions of stunned viewers.
If you look back you’ll see that Nate Diaz was promoting the sport in a very similar way to Conor McGregor now, only many years before the Irishman. The difference between the two? Promotional money, and the UFC clearly didn’t believe in the Stockton bad boy’s abilities. That’s what made his anti-hero win at UFC 196 all the more special.
In typical Diaz brothers style, Nate was flipping the promotion off for their years of ill belief in him, with comments like ‘Nate is not a needle mover’ in the back of his mind. Now, perhaps more deserving than 99% of the fighters on the UFC’s roster, Nate Diaz is a superstar.
The badass weed smoking gangster from the hood could no longer be held back by the promotion’s doubts, and we’ve seen him take some serious air time ever since March 5.
This latest interview is mind blowing to say the least.
Check out the entire interview on page 2…
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