Nate Diaz is back in the headlines ahead of his MMA comeback on May 16, when he takes on Mike Perry at MVP’s first event comprised solely of Mixed Martial Arts bouts. However, Diaz clearly has unfinished business in the UFC despite not fighting for the promotion since September 2022 when he defeated Tony Ferguson at UFC 279. Diaz was a recent guest on Theo Von’s “This Past Weekend” podcast where he talked about his fighting future, and he admitted that he still sees a UFC return in his sights.
“I want to go back to UFC. Yeah… I have bigger offers from the UFC than I got from these guys. But the opponents weren’t the right opponents at the moment. And I believe everything in this fight game, in a lot of things, is timing. And I think that if I would have went to the UFC, I wouldn’t have been fighting the fighters that I want to be fighting.”
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One of the natural opponents for Diaz would be Conor McGregor, where the two men could finally have the trilogy fight that fans have been asking for for nearly a decade. However, McGregor’s current MMA record has Diaz second guessing that choice. “For instance, I think that if I went back to the UFC, they’d want me to fight Conor McGregor right now… I’m like Conor McGregor just f***ing lost to Poirier. I think he got knocked out on his ass… And then he’s going to come back and I know he’s having a hard time with UFC because I’ve been having my hard times with UFC.”
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If Not Conor, Then Who?
Nate Diaz – Ronald Martinez/Getty Images
If returning to the UFC is in Nate Diaz’s future but a third bout with Conor McGregor isn’t on the cards, who could Diaz possibly have in mind? At the age of 40, it’s been largely agreed upon by fans that he won’t ever get back in title contention, or even be a ranked fighter again. With that said, there is one belt that exists in the UFC that Diaz knows very well. In fact, he’s part of the reason why it exists in the first place, the BMF Championship.
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“I’m like, I want to fight f****** BMF motherf*****, who’s claiming my belt running around, Charles Oliveira. I’m like, “Right you’re rocking with my belt now and you’re running around like you’re the baddest motherf*****.’ So that’s where I’m like, ‘Yo, what’s popping with the UFC.’ So I’m like, ‘Let’s link up and get this fight popping.’ And then I go back to talk to them about it and they’re all ready for me to come back and fight Conor. I’m like, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa, listen to what I’m talking about. I want to fight the best of the best when they are the best of the best.’ Conor is great, but I’m not trying to go kill of Conor when he’s on his last dying f****** leg…Like, we ain’t friends. ain’t none of that. But I ain’t trying to finish this dude off.”
Oliveira defeated Max Holloway at UFC 326 to win the BMF Championship, and with Diaz looking to win the belt that helped create in 2019, the future of the symbolic title could be very interesting.
Please credit “This Past Weekend” when using quotes from this article, and give a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
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