Las Vegas, NV — Saturday night’s submission win over Tony Ferguson at UFC 279 may be the last time we see Nate Diaz in the octagon — but it doesn’t seem like he’s done with MMA entirely.
Diaz pulled off what amounted to the perfect guillotine choke in the fourth round against “El Cucuy,” getting the stoppage at 2:09 to put a tidy little bow on his UFC career. Now, he’ll explore free agency coming off an impressive win, and has plans to pursue opportunities in boxing.
Finishing out his trilogy with Conor McGregor, however, is also of interest to Diaz.
“I would like to finish that, the trilogy, for sure,” Diaz (21-13) told media outlets including Cageside Press backstage at the T-Mobile Arena. Asked if he’d want to do that in boxing, Diaz suggested it wouldn’t count. “That would not be a trilogy in boxing, that would be a number one. We can do some of those too. But I’m going to do what he tried to do, and show him how to do it.”
In other words, MMA for the trilogy fight. In the meantime, Diaz will look to score a win in the boxing world, something McGregor failed to do in his 2017 match-up with Floyd Mayweather.
For his part, McGregor also believes that the fight will happen.
Congrats Nate Diaz on making it to the end of his contractual obligations with the UFC, and as a bonafide superstar goer. An incredible feat. Fair play.
Our trilogy will happen.— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) September 10, 2022
Where would the fight take place? During Saturday’s post-fight press conference, Diaz claimed that “I have no plan on being back in the UFC,” then corrected himself. “I have no plan on not being back in the UFC.”
The Stockton native then gave his thoughts on the performance of Khamzat Chimaev, his originally scheduled opponent. “Lame scared boring rookie. Whack p*ssy. Lame. D*cksucker. All of those things.”
Diaz believes Chimaev wanted out of their fight. “I figured it out. This motherf*cker’s scared. He got scared at the press conference. I knew that was going to happen. People don’t show up to spar me all the time.”
Watch the full UFC 279 post-fight press conference with Nate Diaz above.
