There’s only a handful of UFC stars that make sense for Nate Diaz in this day and age.
After boxing the likes of Jake Paul and Jorge Masvidal in free agency, Stockton’s UFC legend Nate Diaz is ready to return to the Octagon, that is, for the right fight.
Having won his contract on ‘The Ultimate Fighter 5’ in 2007, Diaz fought under the UFC banner up until 2022, leaving with one more vintage performance over Tony Ferguson at UFC 279.
Speaking to Full Violence about a potential comeback more than two years later, Diaz, 39, says ‘there’s nobody doing s—‘ in the premier MMA promotion at the moment, totally blanking on Belal Muhammad’s name when asked who is the current UFC Welterweight Champion
“Why would I go back to the UFC right now to fight who?” said Diaz, unimpressed with the UFC roster.
One of the biggest superstars the UFC has ever produced, we try to match up Diaz as best we can.
Conor McGregor tops list of potential opponents for Nate Diaz
The obvious fight to make for Diaz, should he ever come back to the UFC, would be a long-awaited trilogy with rival Conor McGregor.
McGregor and Diaz are all tied up in their iconic series at 1-1, Diaz winning the first fight by second-round submission at UFC 196 and ‘The Notorious’ securing his revenge in the rematch at UFC 202 by majority decision.
Both events performed tremendously on pay-per-view with over 1 millions buys in 2016, some of the highest numbers the company has ever seen, making the trilogy all the more necessary between Diaz and McGregor.
McGregor hasn’t fought since breaking his leg against Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 in 2021 but still remains the biggest star of the sport.
Jorge Masvidal among candidates for Nate Diaz’s comeback fight
One of a few stars to reach a million pay-per-views is another former foe of Diaz, Jorge Masvidal.
‘Gamebred’ fought Diaz for the inaugural BMF title in the main event of UFC 244. From Madison Square Garden, Masvidal scored a doctor’s stoppage TKO over Diaz to conclude a banner year in the UFC after knocking out Darren Till and most notably Ben Askren in five seconds to set a new record for the promotion’s fastest-ever KO.
Diaz and Masvidal rematched in not the Octagon but the boxing ring last summer where Diaz was awarded a controversial majority decision victory.
Similar in age, the 40-year-old Masvidal has talked about a UFC return as well, a decent candidate to welcome back Diaz.
Someone Diaz has history with, yet never fought is former interim champion Dustin Poirier.
Poirier and Diaz were scheduled to meet in a lightweight bout at UFC 230 back in 2018, however, the matchup never came to be with Poirier withdrawing due to injury.
Diaz has long been a dream fight of Poirier’s and what better way for ‘The Diamond’ to retire from MMA than fighting a fellow legend?
Clueless on who the welterweight champion is today (Belal Muhammad), who could forget the time Diaz slapped Leon Edwards at UFC 263 – Diaz almost knocking out the former champion in the final minute of their fight.
Edwards may not hold the welterweight belt now but within title shot distance, the Jamaican-British star continues to headline from home with UFC London this weekend.
There’s a story there with Diaz, one that could be run back someday.
The last fighter on our list is a bit out-of-left-field as Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone is coming out of retirement.
Cerrone last fought in 2022, going without a win since 2018. Prior to 6 losses and a no contest, ‘Cowboy’ had a memorable UFC career filled with performance bonuses and marquee opponents standing in front of him, including Nate Diaz, who pointed two middle fingers at Cerrone between rounds before defeating him by unanimous decision at UFC 141 in 2011.
Donald Cerrone served as Conor McGregor’s return fight in 2020, losing to the Irishman by TKO in the biggest fight of his career.
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