Getty (L-R) Nate Diaz & Leon Edwards
UFC superstar Nate Diaz has made it clear that he’s willing to fight anyone the promotion throws at him, except for heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou and 185-pound king Israel Adesanya.
Diaz was featured in an exclusive interview with Ariel Helwani on “The MMA Hour” Tuesday, and the pair spoke about the state of the fighter’s career. In short, Diaz only has one fight left on his contract and he’s been seeking an opponent for a better part of a year.
Diaz told Helwani that he’s only received one fight offer, a bout with Khamzat Chimaev, but even then he hasn’t been able to secure a match. At this point, Diaz wants out of his UFC contract to pursue other martial arts ventures like boxing and Brazilian jiu-jitsu competitions.
And it’s gotten to the point where Diaz is willing to accept an offer to fight someone as earlier as tonight. However, Diaz still wants the opponent to be “worthy,” saying to Helwani that he’s eyeing someone who has made their mark on the sport.
Unless it’s Ngannou or Adesanya.
“The only worthy opponents they have here for me is f****** Francis Ngannou or Adesanya,” Diaz said. “With all due respect, because I don’t even want to fight those guys. I like those guys a lot.
“But if I’m going to fight anybody, it’s going to be somebody who’s done something great like those f*****s.”
Of course, Ngannou is a heavyweight and a fight between him and Diaz wouldn’t ever happen. Adesanya fights a weight class above Diaz and the fighter from Stockton, California, has never competed as a 185 pounder.
Diaz Has Asked Tried to Fight for Months, Called Out Several Names
Diaz has taken to Twitter throughout the past year to challenge several fighters to meet him inside the Octagon, including Dustin Poirier, Tony Ferguson and Vicente Luque. However, a fight hasn’t come to fruition.
“They haven’t offered me anybody,” Diaz said via MMA Junkie. “I’ve been asking for fights since whenever. I asked for a lot of fights. I asked for (Vicente) Luque, Tony Ferguson. I asked for like four or five people, and there was no going there, and then they finally offered me the Khamzat (Chimaev) fight, and I gave them the little, ‘What the f***.’
“And then I was like, ‘Why not? Let’s just get it done with and get it over with.’ I asked for the Khamzat fight and then all kinds of excuses started happening. But remember I was like I want December, I want January, I want March, I want all these things.”
Diaz told Helwani that he’s wanted out of his UFC contract since his lightweight title match against Benson Henderson in December 2012.
Diaz Just Wants to ‘Depart,’ Said There’s ‘No Worthy’ Fighters Out There
Diaz is undoubtedly one of the sport’s biggest stars ever, and with big-money fights out there like Jake Paul, Diaz is ready to “depart” from the UFC. And it doesn’t matter how much money the promotion throws at him.
“When I’m asking for a fight, they offer me more money,” Diaz said. “Then they offer me more money, more money. I’m at a point in my career and my life where I don’t want any more money. I just want to depart. I’m over the whole UFC roster as of right now. All the guys that they can offer or I’m even asking for, everyone’s been used and abused. It’s a recycled division. Lightweight or welterweight division, I feel like there’s nobody worthy. There’s no worthy opponents at the moment.”