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STOCKTON, Calif. — GILBERT MELENDEZ, NATE Diaz‘s longtime teammate, was in Stockton with a few of his college students from El Niño Coaching Middle in South San Francisco for an evening coaching session at Nick Diaz Academy on Aug. 24. Melendez and crew arrived first on the “Lure Home” — the title given by Nate Diaz to a small, two-bedroom visitor home throughout from his property — the place they chatted with Diaz’s group and watched YouTube movies on the large display.
Diaz’s first combat with Conor McGregor ended up being proven, and proper firstly of the second spherical, Diaz confirmed up on the visitor home. He opened the door, seemed to his proper at what was on the TV and chuckled.
“I f—ed him up,” Diaz mentioned, emphasizing the final three phrases.
Regardless of the UFC’s need and makes an attempt to make a Diaz vs. McGregor trilogy combat, it will not occur anytime quickly. Actually, any UFC fights that contain Diaz aren’t within the playing cards for the foreseeable future after this weekend.
On Saturday, Diaz will combat up-and-coming star Khamzat Chimaev in the principle occasion of UFC 279 in Las Vegas (10 p.m. ET on ESPN+ PPV). It will likely be the ultimate combat on Diaz’s UFC contract, as he’s poised to do one thing that has by no means been performed earlier than in MMA: depart the UFC voluntarily on the top of his fame.
Diaz mentioned this second is solely the “halftime present,” now that he may have the liberty to do no matter he needs after this combat.
Two weeks earlier than UFC 279, the famously non-public Diaz allowed ESPN unprecedented entry to his Northern California coaching camp. Diaz, 37, has completed McGregor, headlined Madison Sq. Backyard in a combat for a legendary BMF title and been part of among the most important pay-per-view occasions in UFC historical past. What’s subsequent, he mentioned, will trump all of that.
“The second half is gonna be larger than something I’ve ever performed and greater than something that is anticipated,” Diaz mentioned. “I’ve limitless concepts.”
DIAZ SITS DOWN in a chair at a desk and smiles. He is carrying his standard apparel: a plain black T-shirt, shorts and Vans skate sneakers. Mild illuminates the suitable aspect of his face from the entrance window.
By way of that window and throughout the road is the house the place Diaz lives. On this specific occasion, 18 days earlier than a watershed combat in what has already been a legendary fight profession, Diaz is stress-free in the lounge of the Lure Home, a nickname generally used for locations the place medication are both used or offered.
Over Diaz’s proper shoulder is a desktop pc enjoying Mike Tyson highlights from YouTube. Above his head is a framed piece of artwork, a colourful illustration with depictions of Albert Einstein and Amazon proprietor Jeff Bezos and the logos of firms reminiscent of Netflix, NASA, Fb, Uber and Instagram.
“Concepts imply s—,” the textual content beneath Einstein reads. “Execution is all the things.”
The piece does not fairly match the Lure Home aesthetic, which incorporates marijuana paraphernalia — a bong, Backwoods rolling papers and lighters — strewn about haphazardly. A customized pillow adorned with the picture of a bloody Diaz choking out an opponent with a triangle submission whereas flipping a pair of center fingers sits within the nook of a worn-out pleather couch.
On the wall behind the black couch is a drawing of Brazilian jiu-jitsu pioneer Rickson Gracie. Beneath the tv, there’s a big portray of reggae icon Bob Marley, and within the hallway between the bedrooms hangs artwork of Diaz in sun shades with former opponent Jorge Masvidal (nicknamed “Road Jesus”) behind him on a crucifix.
Diaz selected the Einstein design himself. To him, it is emblematic of how he used martial arts to raise himself from the hardscrabble streets of Stockton to grow to be an elite fighter and the way he has emerged as some of the widespread and highest-paid athletes within the UFC. He believes that he, like Einstein and Bezos, noticed one thing others in energy didn’t — in Diaz’s case, his market worth — and turned it into one thing profitable.
In 2014, forward of a Conor McGregor-headlined fight card in Dublin, Eire, UFC president Dana White mentioned Diaz “is just not a needle mover.” On the time, Nate’s older brother, Nick, the previous Strikeforce welterweight champion, was thought-about the larger star within the household.
In 2022, Diaz says possibly he’ll combat McGregor whereas being out of contract with the UFC, and White must make a deal for the trilogy bout with Diaz’s personal promotional firm.
“That is what may occur, too,” Diaz mentioned. “You need me to combat Conor? Now we’re gonna do the Conor versus [Floyd] Mayweather deal.”
Earlier than he accepted the Chimaev bout, Diaz instructed the UFC he wished to combat heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou or middleweight champion Israel Adesanya as a result of they’re “cool.” That “cool” issue will likely be one thing that informs Diaz’s choice a couple of UFC return sooner or later.
“When there is a cool man who is available in and beats all these fools up and he turns into champion, that is once I wish to combat within the UFC as a result of he is truly a cool man,” Diaz mentioned. “And he isn’t there now. However when he does [get there], you may realize it. As a result of I am gonna say, ‘What’s up now, motherf—er?’
“I do not wish to not combat within the UFC, as a result of that is the place all the perfect fighters are on the earth. However I don’t wish to combat in UFC for some time, as a result of whereas I am right here I am both doing nothing or I’ve to combat some f—ing lame ass and construct him up for him to combat any individual, for any individual to be any individual for me to combat. Does that make sense, although, or no? It is f—ing fully logical, I imagine.”
Diaz mentioned his relationship with the UFC and White remains to be strong. There isn’t a in poor health will. The one factor different fighters get fallacious, Diaz mentioned, is they do not perceive that the UFC represents competitors to them as a lot as their opponents within the cage. Diaz has at all times believed he was going up towards the UFC to get the very best deal for himself, in the identical manner the UFC would try this, too, from a enterprise perspective. It does not must be emotional or private.
“I like Dana, too,” Diaz mentioned. “I like and respect him. Nonetheless, my combat is with you, too. We’re competing, too. I am onto you. No person else is. No person is even coming shut.”
White will likely be cageside Saturday night time, watching one of many stars of his firm maybe make the ultimate stroll. He understands what a Diaz departure may imply for the UFC.
“He is fought in unimaginable wars for us,” White mentioned Tuesday. “He is been a giant a part of this firm for a really very long time. What extra may I ask of Nate Diaz? If Nate is able to make this his final combat, I want him all the perfect on the earth. It has been enjoyable — it is actually been enjoyable coping with these two [Nate and Nick].
“If [leaving the UFC is] what Nate needs, then yeah, we want him the perfect.”
DIAZ IS BEHIND the wheel of his black Chevy Tahoe with teammate Luciano Ramos within the passenger seat. He takes a fast left flip down a residential avenue in a working-class space of Stockton and factors to a home on the suitable as one the place he spent a lot of his childhood years. Diaz patterned the Lure Home after this dwelling, full with a heavy bag hanging from a tree within the entrance yard, just like the one he and Nick punched after they have been youngsters.
The childhood house is lower than a five-minute drive from the place he lives now in Morada, between his residence and the group’s Nick Diaz Academy gymnasium. Diaz’s mom and sister stay only a block from that former dwelling, and his father lives close by, too. Diaz has made tens of millions from his combat profession however has barely strayed from his roots.
“I nonetheless do the identical runs I used to do once I was 15,” Diaz says. “That is for certain going to be homebase endlessly. … House is the place your mother is at.”
Stockton, although, “will drive you f—ing loopy, too,” he says. Based on U.S. Information, the town has practically double the violent crime price because the nationwide common. Diaz, his brother and his group are well-known within the space, which has its positives and negatives. Diaz mentioned he and his group will go elsewhere for coaching or seminars to flee and reset each three weeks.
Early on this camp, Diaz and firm traveled to Belgrade, Montana, to coach with Brazilian jiu-jitsu royalty Kron Gracie. About three weeks from the combat, Diaz, his brother and his teammates competed in a triathlon in Lake Tahoe. Typically, all of them go downstate to Los Angeles to coach with coach Ernie Reyes Jr., a lifelong martial artist with a bevy of Hollywood performing credit.
Diaz pulls his SUV right into a strip mall parking zone en path to Starbucks for a mid-afternoon espresso pick-me-up. Three days earlier, Leon Edwards, the person who was Diaz’s most up-to-date opponent in June 2021, grew to become the UFC welterweight champion with a fifth-round head-kick knockout of Kamaru Usman. Diaz sees numerous significance in that outcome as a result of he believes it reaffirms his standing within the UFC and the larger fight sports activities world.
In opposition to Edwards, Diaz was shedding for many of what was a lackluster combat, however Diaz caught Edwards with a giant left hand within the fifth spherical, wobbling him. Diaz could not end, as an alternative opting to level a mocking finger at a shocked Edwards, however that was probably the most vital offense of the 25-minute bout. In Usman vs. Edwards, the state of affairs was very comparable. Usman dominated many of the manner, however Edwards received with lower than one minute left with a KO.
“That is sufficient for me,” Diaz mentioned, referring to his combat with Edwards. “When you get your ass whipped, you are the loser; I am the winner. The one factor that occurred in that combat with me and him was [the big fifth-round punch].
“I do not care how the combat was going. That is battle. We’re combating for f—-ing cities and households and b——. Your metropolis, household and b—— are all mine. I simply killed you. And that is the champ.”
In Diaz’s thoughts, Edwards adopted what had grow to be a sample. For 3 of Diaz’s previous 4 opponents, their subsequent combat was for a title: McGregor, Masvidal and Edwards. Diaz believes the UFC is setting Chimaev up for that very factor — an opportunity on the belt — if he can beat Diaz.
“It makes excellent sense, as a result of they need him to have a title combat,” Diaz mentioned. “So who have they got him combat? I am the champion. Anyone I combat will get the f—ing title combat. I am the man.”
1:40
UFC commentator Jon Anik shares the story of how a wager resulted in him getting the realm code “209” on his arm.
Diaz vs. Chimaev is a polarizing matchup that analysts and even different UFC fighters have blasted. Chimaev is 28 years previous and one of many hottest rising stars within the UFC, a dominant wrestler from Chechnya through Sweden with a 5-0 UFC document and 4 finishes. He’s very possible on the cusp of a title shot. Diaz, in the meantime, is 9 years older, has 14 extra years of pro-MMA put on and tear, and has misplaced three of 4.
The UFC’s cause for making the combat is clear: Earlier than Diaz departs, the promotion needs to make use of his star energy to construct the profile of Chimaev. It is an previous professional wrestling enterprise technique utilized when wrestlers have been on their manner out of the area — they first have been made to lose to that territory’s subsequent massive star. Chimaev is a -1100 betting favourite, whereas Diaz is a +700 underdog, per Caesars Sportsbook.
None of that is misplaced on Diaz, who referred to the combat as one thing of a “punishment.” Diaz initially turned down the Chimaev combat final winter, inflicting the UFC to increase his contract. However after Chimaev beat Gilbert Burns at UFC 273 in April, Diaz’s group instructed the UFC that Diaz was keen to combat anybody to meet the ultimate combat on his deal. The UFC once more supplied Chimaev, and Diaz accepted.
“I’ve gotta simply go in there and combat him for you actual fast,” Diaz says. “I am unmotivated for that, however I am gonna do what I gotta do and nobody ain’t gonna cease me. I will by no means sit again and let nobody whoop my ass.
“The best way they have been pumping him up and the best way I am purported to lose, he higher f—ing kill me. He higher kill me,” he continues. “Let’s simply say he does, proper? He is the following smartest thing and he is ranked No. 3 [in the official UFC rankings]. The man I beat [Edwards] is No. 1. If I lose, I am nonetheless simply No. 2 or No. 3.”
BACK ON THE highway, Diaz drives the Tahoe to OMG Wraps in Stockton. He drops it off to get the skin redone with a customized darkish inexperienced matte end and picks up his Ford Raptor that simply obtained a black matte wrap. The Raptor, Diaz mentioned, will finally be a present for his father. For now, the truck will likely be used to schlep Diaz and teammates backwards and forwards from the gymnasium to the Lure Home and a nicer condo constructing, the College Lofts in downtown Stockton, the place Diaz put up teammates and coaches from out of city.
The group is an eclectic one with all kinds of personalities. From the soft-spoken, college-educated UFC middleweight prospect Nick Maximov to the sarcastic, babyfaced women man MMA vet Chris Avila. There’s the disciplinarian “gymnasium cop” Lucas Gamaza, the face-and-neck-tattooed Nicholas Kohring and the soon-to-be-mayor of Lodi, California, Mikey Singh Hothi.
Ramos, a bantamweight fighter from Argentina, confirmed up on the gymnasium three years in the past unannounced and with out with the ability to converse a lot English. A couple of months after his arrival, the group was partying and somebody tried to choose a combat with Diaz, however Ramos stepped in and knocked the aggressor out with a proper hand. After that, Diaz let him keep on the Lure Home, the place he has lived since.
“He earned his maintain,” Diaz says.
Diaz takes a FaceTime name from his consultant, Zach Rosenfield, on the drive again to his dwelling. Rosenfield needs to debate future enterprise alternatives, and McGregor’s title got here up. It was introduced final month that McGregor would have a task within the remake of the Nineteen Eighties cult movie “Street Home,” which is able to star Jake Gyllenhaal because the character performed by Patrick Swayze within the unique. Diaz mentioned movie reps initially reached out to him for an element in June, however he wasn’t curious about pursuing it.
“I am not gonna combat f—ing Jake Gyllenhaal and lose,” Diaz mentioned, explaining his rationale. “If I am getting beat up — and I am not attempting to get beat up by no person — it ain’t gonna be towards Jake Gyllenhaal. I am Patrick Swayze if I am doing that film.”
The listing of actors whom Diaz would let beat up his character in a film is brief however headlined, he mentioned, by Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro.
Diaz finds it ironic that McGregor took a gig that was first supplied to Diaz, contemplating how their careers have intersected. Diaz believes he was the catalyst for McGregor reaching superstardom as the most important money-drawing star in UFC historical past. Diaz choked out McGregor at UFC 196 in March 2016, elevating his profile exponentially. Within the rematch 5 months later, McGregor received by a really shut majority choice, with one choose calling it a draw.
The UFC, Diaz mentioned, has been attempting to e-book the trilogy combat between him and McGregor. However Diaz does not wish to “convey him again to life.” McGregor has only one win since 2016 and is attempting to return from a damaged leg he sustained in a loss to Dustin Poirier in July 2021.
Diaz mentioned the UFC supplied him a posh, multifight contract extension for a substantial amount of cash — he would not say how a lot — that included the McGregor trilogy bout and probably a fourth McGregor combat. Diaz turned it down, opting to grow to be a free agent after the Chimaev combat.
The best way Diaz sees it, he has been the motive force for among the greatest issues which have occurred over the previous few years within the UFC. 4 months after he stopped McGregor in an enormous pay-per-view headliner, Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta sold the UFC to Hollywood talent agency Endeavor for greater than $4 billion. After McGregor received the rematch, McGregor’s subsequent combat was towards Eddie Alvarez for the light-weight title, which McGregor received.
Then, in August 2017, McGregor leveraged his stardom right into a boxing match with Mayweather, which stands because the second greatest pay-per-view occasion of all time, simply behind Mayweather’s 2015 combat with Manny Pacquiao. Diaz mentioned McGregor getting the Mayweather combat made him “f—ing sizzling,” as a result of it is one of many fights Diaz wished, as somebody who has been boxing since he was a child and has sparred with the likes of boxing Corridor of Famer Andre Ward.
Diaz returned in August 2019, beating Anthony Pettis, which arrange the legendary “BMF title” combat with Masvidal at New York’s Madison Sq. Backyard. The huge UFC occasion, attended by then-President Donald Trump, was the primary time a sitting U.S. president had ever attended an MMA combat.
“I noticed the market,” Diaz mentioned. “You are a G, I am a G. I could make a gangster combat out of that. I will do it off the Pettis combat. Observe the blueprint, motherf—er. It is proper right here.”
Masvidal received that bout through physician stoppage as a consequence of a Diaz reduce and went on to get back-to-back title pictures towards Usman.
If Diaz might be concerned in all that for the UFC and among the different outstanding stars within the sport, he believes he may as properly management his future and begin one thing new as a free agent.
“How can I not create my very own group?” Diaz mentioned, who added he went into the Masvidal combat with a torn meniscus. “I created all this s—. I made the Conor combat. I made the most important factor out of the Masvidal combat. The president was there. That was all performed by me. I do not care what no person says. The UFC and other people can advertise like I am a hater. No, no, no. I made all that occur. I will write my very own group. I will write my very own story then.”
Diaz mentioned one in every of his counteroffers to the UFC was the promotion needed to signal 5 of his teammates. Diaz is exceptionally shut together with his group, and with the long run staked to Actual Battle Inc., the title of his new promotion, he can convey them alongside for the journey.
He’s about to take the gamble that he’ll make more cash combating exterior of the UFC than in it, saying he may even have the ability to pull in $1 million for a grappling match. Boxing is intriguing to him, and he introduced up the names of potential future opponents, reminiscent of Mayweather, Canelo Alvarez and Jake Paul. Nevertheless, he is undecided how he feels concerning the YouTube-star-turned-prizefighter.
“If I combat Jake Paul, he ain’t paying me, I am paying him,” Diaz says. “I do not need or have to combat Jake Paul. He wants and needs to combat me.”
0:40
Khamzat Chimaev discusses his journey to UFC and the way he is prepared for the large stage vs. Nate Diaz at UFC 279.
For his subsequent combat after Chimaev, Diaz wish to compete in blended martial arts, not boxing, below his promotional banner. However, Diaz mentioned, if historical past is any indication, all the things modifications for him after each combat. So, nothing might be made particular till after Saturday.
“I would really like it to be MMA,” Diaz mentioned. “I am a fighter. However I additionally would really like to have the ability to take part in no matter I would like. The best factor is a motherf—er who can do regardless of the f— he needs.”
It is potential, although unlikely, that none of this may come to fruition. That would not trouble Diaz. It is a danger he is keen to take.
“If I can not, I do not give a f—,” he mentioned. “I am keen to go see. Let’s do that.”
DIAZ SITS IN a beanbag chair in the lounge of the house of Nick McDermott, his childhood good friend, ingesting water out of a pink Solo cup and ripping hits from a bong. The marijuana use with Diaz and his group does not actually begin and cease. It is perpetual. Earlier than observe, the crew will cling within the parking zone and move round a joint, which will get positioned on the nook ring submit as soon as contained in the gymnasium.
At McDermott’s home, it is after midnight and Diaz is speaking with McDermott and Elijah Gutierrez — the pair that makes up his multimedia group — a couple of host of subjects, together with what movies and images they plan on dropping earlier than the Chimaev combat. Diaz mentioned UFC 279 should not be promoted as offered by the UFC as a result of Actual Battle Inc. is definitely placing it on.
McDermott has been with Diaz since grade college and witnessed one in every of his early fights at a Stockton baseball area, when an 11-year-old Diaz took on an older teen and his pals. Diaz received, in fact, however it took greater than a half-hour. Gutierrez is a 23-year-old who began at Nick Diaz Academy as a teen. Diaz satisfied Gutierrez to not enlist within the Military after highschool as a result of Diaz noticed his potential as a videographer and photographer.
Diaz is fiercely loyal to his pals and teammates, whom he commonly flies out on non-public jets to fights, seminars and holidays. They smoke, practice and celebration collectively, and have what seems to be an inseparable bond.
“I journey with them, as a result of they journey with me,” Diaz mentioned.
Backstage at UFC 276 in July, a reporter from the Nelk Boys podcast tried to interview Diaz. After agreeing, Diaz realized who the interviewer was — somebody who had posted memes mocking Maximov a number of months earlier. Diaz slapped the person’s microphone together with his left hand and smacked off his hat together with his proper, ending the interview full cease. Diaz mentioned he regrets doing that now — not as a result of he did not wish to educate the reporter a lesson, however as a result of they used the clip of the slaps for views.
“I misplaced, as a result of they received,” Diaz mentioned. “I used to be pissed.”
That loyalty extends to household, too, in fact. A couple of years in the past, Diaz was out in Stockton and bumped into a person who mentioned hey and that he was pals with the boss at Diaz’s mom’s job. Diaz grew to become enraged. As quickly as he obtained dwelling, he instructed his mom to stop and she or he’d work alongside him, on his payroll.
“I used to be disrespected by it,” Diaz mentioned. “Nobody is my mother’s boss. My mother is the boss. F— you.”
1:04
Georges St-Pierre shares his ideas on Khamzat Chimaev vs. Nate Diaz at UFC 279.
Diaz left McDermott’s home round 1:30 a.m. to go again to the Lure Home. Inside, he gathered some sheets and blankets for his journalist visitor’s sofa keep. Diaz realized he hadn’t eaten dinner and began warming up a leftover vegetarian stir fry — his food plan is primarily plant-based, however he eats some fish — in a pan on the range. Diaz then sat right down to eat and speak, and our dialog prolonged previous 4 a.m.
Diaz talked about his still-evolving technique with cash and plans for investing in actual property. He thinks fighters who spend extreme quantities on garments and jewellery are pretend, although “occasionally I will purchase some dope s—,” referencing his large assortment of Jordan sneakers. Diaz instructed tales about how he was an early adopter of social media for advertising functions, spurred on by his brother, who had a YouTube channel again in 2007, simply two years after the platform launched.
His distinct Northern California intonation and avenue speak give off the fallacious impression to many. Diaz is enterprise savvy in his personal manner and has a pointy reminiscence, going again to his early days of MMA and his childhood.
Nick, he mentioned, was at all times a fighter. One time, they have been at a household dinner with a good friend of Nick’s, who’s Black. Nick was about 8 or 9 years previous on the time, Nate mentioned, and noticed a white man and his son sneering at their desk, particularly Nick’s good friend. Nick jumped up on mentioned desk and challenged the grownup man to scrap then and there.
“He is doing higher than he has shortly,” Nate mentioned of Nick, who’s now again residing in Stockton after greater than six years away from MMA, which primarily consisted of partying.
So far as his personal legacy in combating, Nate Diaz does not take into consideration that a lot in any respect.
“I do not wish to be within the UFC Corridor of Fame,” Diaz mentioned. “I identical to making enjoyable of mom f—–ers who assume they’re tight for being within the Corridor of Fame.”
RICHARD PEREZ, DIAZ’S boxing coach, helps him take his headgear off as Diaz pours water over his personal head. Diaz is within the ring and reaches out above the ropes to provide a fist bump to his brother. It is after 9 p.m. on Aug. 24, and a sparring session — 5 rounds of kickboxing towards former Bellator and PFL mild heavyweight Jason Butcher — has simply completed. Grappling is up subsequent.
Butcher did properly initially however had bother with Diaz’s tempo and physique pictures because the rounds wore on, a state of affairs not international to previous Diaz opponents.
“When he wished to hit exhausting, it landed,” Butcher says. “It landed. A few of these knees to the physique, he was being good as a result of we do not have the pad on. But when he threw a few of these, they’d have dropped me for certain.
“Any of [the body shots], if he would have put extra on it, would have dropped me, I’d think about. A few the top pictures wobbled me, too.”
Perez, who has coached Diaz for practically 20 years, is happy about the concept his pupil may step right into a boxing ring sooner or later.
“I have been ready to do it for a very long time, as a result of I do know he may do it,” Perez says. “I am for all of it the best way. He’ll do actually good. He’ll be within the prime two [in his division], I wager you. He may win a belt. When he is coaching simply in boxing, he is large. Individuals speak about him on a regular basis. We go to skilled boxing gyms … [and] he whips guys’ butts.”
Melendez watched Diaz’s sparring session with their longtime Brazilian jiu-jitsu coach, Cesar Gracie. Each have identified Diaz since he was a young person. Melendez was dropped at Gracie’s gymnasium within the Bay Space again then by Jake Shields. Nate was Nick’s scholar and at all times the younger man within the room. Melendez, Shields and Nick all had glorious MMA careers, successful titles in a number of promotions.
The 4 have remained shut, and Melendez can not help however marvel about the place Diaz is now — some of the well-known fighters on the planet — in comparison with the place he was as a child popping out of Stockton.
“It reveals he is greater than only a fighter,” Melendez says. “He is a businessman. Only a strategic individual in life and all the things. Every little thing he performs, the strikes he makes. Nearly manifests it. It is fairly spectacular. He simply sticks to the course. It is at all times spectacular to see that. Issues at all times work out. He is just like the man that was fast to the inventory market earlier than anyone else. He noticed it early, and now it is gonna pay.”
Nick provides: “He is a grown-up. I nonetheless really feel like he is my child brother, like once we have been simply youngsters. Time flies. I am happy with him.”
Together with his information of Hollywood and marketability, Reyes sees a brilliant future for Diaz in no matter he does subsequent.
“All athletes attempt to get to free company,” Reyes says. “And he is performed it. It is a tremendous factor, as a result of it is very, very uncommon [in MMA] — if ever — that anyone has been capable of construct their model after which have the ability to go, ‘Now I would like to have the ability to transfer the best way I wish to transfer.'”
First, although, comes this combat with Chimaev. Diaz is not too enthusiastic about it. He is aware of Chimaev is thought for his wrestling and believes Chimaev’s sport plan will possible be to take Diaz down. Diaz mentioned he’d relatively combat “killers” or “anyone attempting to knock fools out.”
“Whenever you combat wrestlers, they devalue [themselves] they usually devalue you, as a result of then you need to be boring, too,” Diaz mentioned. “I can not simply go over and kill this motherf—er, as a result of he is gonna seize me and never let me go.”
Matchmaking is among the causes Diaz believes he has to interrupt from the UFC, even when it is non permanent. He needs to see how a lot cash the Nathan Diaz model is price on the open market, and he needs to do it his manner — forge his personal path, write his personal blueprint for achievement. Diaz by no means felt the UFC advertising machine was behind him, so why not?
Diaz is unconventional — his pre-training routine includes a protein smoothie in a single hand and a joint within the different — and that is very a lot part of his enchantment to the plenty. He believes these followers will comply with him on no matter journey he takes subsequent.
“I’ve wrote sufficient tales already,” Diaz mentioned. “Why not simply f—ing write my very own? Then I can see different ones once I’m watching. We’ll make our personal s—.”
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