Nate Diaz didn’t turn a blind eye to the UFC’s motives for UFC 279.
Diaz will face rising star Khamzat Chimaev in a non-championship welterweight bout as the main event on September 10 in Las Vegas pay-per-view. With just one fight left on Diaz’s UFC contract, UFC 279 is expected to be the swan song for his promotion, so it’s not a big leap for Diaz to speculate on UFC goals by matching a 37-year-old fan — favorite against MMA Fighting World’s third-ranked welterweight.
Diaz is already over 7-1 in most sportsbooks, and in an interview with ESPN on Tuesday, Diaz stressed that Chimaev wasn’t even the fight he wanted.
“What they’re making me do now is they act like I’m calling for this fight, I didn’t ask, I don’t want, don’t want, still don’t want, ” Diaz said. “But I don’t give f, I’ll fight anyone. But the pressure is on him – he better kill me because he’s the next killer in town.
“Because…if I yelled at him, they’d say, ‘Oh, he’s not the best in town.’ But they wouldn’t let me go [otherwise]. I asked for 20 games, 10 games, 15 games.
It’s about making this guy,” Diaz continued. “It’s about making this bastard , right? I thought, well, well, you won’t let me go because I’m the best fighter here, and you won’t let me go unless someone shoots? Do I have to find someone for you? All right, all right – you’re welcome. Let us be you. You’re welcome, UFC. You’re welcome, Dubai. You’re welcome, bastards in your country. You’re welcome. It’s just my halftime show. I’m just getting started. “
Diaz has decided to lose to the current UFC welterweight champion since June 2021.
Over the past year, Diaz has repeatedly — and very publicly — called for a fight with the likes of action fighters Vicente Luque and Dustin Poirier; Luque and Poirier responded to the callouts. Poirier’s fight, in particular, won widespread fan support.
But the UFC chose to leave the task to the 27-year-old Wrestler Chimaev, who is undefeated (11-0) so far in his MMA career.
Chimaev has been hailed by many as the second A future champion at middleweight, Diaz didn’t lose sight of the UFC’s intentions as he headed to free agency. He said Tuesday that he felt as if he was going to fight “the organization, everyone.”
“Why does the UFC keep disrespecting me and make me a fallen guy who likes them or what? Fuck him, fuck them, fuck everyone,” Diaz said. “And that’s just the beginning for me. This whole fight isn’t brought to you by the UFC. This fight is brought to you by [Diaz’s new promotion] Real Fight, Inc., straight to the point. Because this isn’t a UFC fight against Nate Diaz, whatever his name is. It’s you and this bastard who lost to me.
“Let me tell you something, let’s say I lose, you bastards are saying yes The best thing that has ever happened, right? …let’s just say my fass got stomped on, let’s say it happened for a second and everyone was talking. …..and guess what? You still have a free agent and he may have just been freaked out, but he’s still just the second-best fighter in the world because he just became the welterweight champion and he’s the loser Giving the person you claim is the second best, best thing to do. Then get it done, because the pressure is on you, fuck. I don’t give f.
“If I fruin it, ha ha – that’s what you’ll get by playing with me too long. ”
