Despite Nate Diaz announcing plans to leave the UFC following his win over Tony Ferguson, Dana White has nothing but praise for the fighter who has been on his roster for the past 15 years.
“He’s always here,” White said of Diaz during the post-fight press conference at UFC 279. “It’s been great to have him here. I wish him all the best.
“I had this discussion with him in the office a few months ago. Whatever he continues to do, I wish him all the best. He’s starting his own organization, or starting a promotion or something, and I just wish him the best of luck. It was great to have him here. “
Just before UFC 279, Diaz announced the launch of his own promotion company — Real Fight, Inc. — where he plans to hold boxing matches, MMA fights, and even It’s fighting.
In addition to these plans, Diaz said he hopes to conquer other sports outside of the UFC, and many believe the transition to boxing would be a natural fit, especially with a sport like A lucrative battle for names like Jake Paul may be waiting for him.
“No matter what Nate does from now on, this will be his home,” White said.
As far as the main event of UFC 279 itself, White expects things to be almost exactly the same, with Diaz and Ferguson both in Diaz Z’s best side of the game ended the round with a fourth-round guillotine choke.
White credits Diaz and Ferguson, Both of them stepped forward to save the fight after Kamzat Chimayev failed to gain weight for the main event, although White had to question Ferguson’s knockout attempt, which ultimately resulted in the submission being completed.
“Look, they’re all old guys who’ve been here a long time. That’s what I expected,” White said.
“[Nate Diaz] is so durable, so tough. Literally, I don’t know if you guys have monitors or you can hear what’s going on, but we got into Tony’s corner that round and his corner for some reason told him to take [Diaz] down. [They] said, “Take him down.” He was chopping that leg, kicking that front leg, obviously doing damage, and his corner told him to take him down. Nate took advantage of that the moment he did it. “
