Nate Diaz is set to headline UFC 279 and will face undefeated rising star Khamzat Chimaev this Saturday, September 10, 2022, inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. However, the main draw is not only the fight itself but also the controversy that preceded the bout.
Diaz has only one victory in the last six years. And in his fight with Chimaev, the majority of the odds have been stacked against him, and when asked about his chances of losing, the 37-year-old dismissed the question.
“I don’t give a f***, Who f***ing cares about that?” said Diaz.
The UFC promoted the fight with Diaz looking to upset another big name in the same way he provoked Conor McGregor in 2016. However, he claimed that this was not the case.
Earlier this week, Diaz gave an intriguing on-camera interview to ESPN’s Brett Okamoto, saying that he felt he was being set up as a convenient scapegoat.
“What they’ve got me doing right now is they’re acting like I called for this fight, which I didn’t call for and didn’t want and still don’t want,” Diaz said.
“But I don’t give a f***. I’ll fight anybody. But the pressure’s on him. He’d better finish me because he’s the next killer in town.”
Diaz added that this fight was scheduled in order for UFC to establish Chimaev as a star at his expense.
“This fight is not even about this guy,” the southpaw fighter said. It’s about making this guy. It’s about making this mother f***er, right? And I’m like, ‘OK, well, you aren’t going to let me go because I’m the best fighter here and you’re not going to let me go unless it’s off of somebody?”
Diaz’s contract with the UFC
Diaz’s 170-pound match against Chimaev is the final fight of Diaz’s UFC contract, which means that Diaz’s 15-year run with the promotion will likely soon come to an end.
Diaz also plans to launch a promotion called “Real Fights, Inc.” in the near future. “You’re not thinking, man,” Diaz said to the press. “I’ve been a fight promoter my whole career.”
“The best part of getting out of contract with the UFC is that I will be able to be active,” Diaz said.
“The only reason why I haven’t been active in the last 10 years is because the UFC paid me too much money. They wanted to keep me inactive and in contract. And if I fought three times a year, they’d be paying out too much money.”
Nathan Diaz, the younger brother of Nick Diaz, is also nearing the end of his current UFC contract. His social media activity suggests that he has been attempting to back out of the deal by offering a slew of elite names to fight, only to have the UFC reject or dismiss them.
I been tryin to fight for a year and months I also tried to fight kamzat for the last month and a half but he was hurt, had visa issues,overweight and now his bitchass is off getting married instead of fighting wtf ? I’m tryin to get a fight wit a real fighter asap/July
LFG— Nathan Diaz (@NateDiaz209) May 28, 2022
Diaz’s career
The California native nearly knocked out Leon Edwards in the fifth round of their UFC 263 fight on June 12, 2021, in Glendale, Arizona. At UFC 278 in Salt Lake City, Utah, Edwards won the welterweight title by knocking out Kamaru Usman in the final seconds of their fight.
Diaz won Season 5 of “The Ultimate Fighter” and made his UFC debut in 2007. By the time Diaz reached the top of the lightweight division for his lone title shot, a loss to Benson Henderson in 2012,
After losing to McGregor at UFC 202 on August 20, 2016, in Las Vegas, he didn’t fight again until August 17, 2019, against Anthony Pettis in Anaheim, California.