Getty Nate Diaz
Longtime UFC veteran Diego Sanchez is making his bare-knuckle debut next month, and after that, he’d love to meet Nate Diaz inside the ropes.
Sanchez spoke with MMA Junkie ahead of his February 17 clash with former WBA light middleweight champ Austin Trout during BKFC Knucklemania 3 at the Tingley Coliseum in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Although Sanchez has yet to compete for BKFC, he’s already looking ahead to a collision with Diaz. “Nightmare” reminded the outlet that he holds a win over Nick Diaz inside the UFC’s Octagon, and that he wants to be the first fighter to defeat both of the iconic brothers.
“Nate won’t fight me because I beat his bigger brother and he idolizes his bigger brother in this weird way,” Sanchez said. “I’ve been trying to fight Nate for 10 years. If this performance can be so epic and so powerful and dominant – and it will be – I have a chance at snagging that Nate Diaz fight. That’s always the fight I wanted, too, because if I beat Nate, then I’m the first guy to ever beat both Diaz brothers.
“You the real G, Nate? Then take off the gloves, homie. Real Gs don’t wear gloves, homie. Real Gs get down in the street – bone to bone, knuckle to knuckle, and the little b*tch ends up buckling.”
Sanchez Outlines 3 Potential Major Paydays for Diaz
Diaz competed in the final fight of his UFC deal in September, and he currently remains a free agent. Although Sanchez wants to take on Diaz, he admitted that there are three mega-fights seemingly available to Diaz, which include two boxing matches with Jake Paul and Floyd Mayweather, as well as a trilogy match with Conor McGregor should he elect to resign with the UFC.
“I’m telling you all right now: Nate is just like everybody else in combat sports,” Sanchez said. “We’re all just trying to get the highest payday we could get. … So he’s got Conor McGregor, Jake Paul and he’s got Floyd Mayweather. He’s got those three fights that could possibly be big, huge paydays for him.”
BKFC President Dave Feldman Said ‘Money’s on the Table’ for Diaz to Sign With Promotion
BKFC president Dave Feldman told MMA Fighting in December that the organization was very interested in signing a deal with Diaz. Feldman said it came down to if Diaz was interested in bare-knuckle boxing because money was already “on the table.”
“The money’s on the table for him,” Feldman said. “It’s just a matter now of does he want to fight bare knuckle? That’s all it really is. I’m confident he can make more money with us than he can anywhere else, even fighting Jake Paul. Because if you know what he’s been paying those guys, they’ve been making decent money, don’t get me wrong. The pay-per-views have been doing decent and he can get some upside but I think if he fought a guy like Mike Perry with bare knuckles, I think that’s probably his most popular option out there that he’s going to get the most eyeballs on that.
“He could get more on Jake Paul but I think people are getting tired of — not Jake Paul but Jake Paul fighting someone he’s supposed to beat. Not that he was supposed to beat Anderson Silva. I’ll tell you he looked very good in that fight and ended up dropping Anderson Silva, which really, really impressed me, but we’re talking about Nate now. Nate is someone I’d love to get. It’s someone that I think if he could crossover to this he would bring a lot of MMA fans into this organization and I think it would be great acquisition.”