Former lightweight title challenger, Nate Diaz has confirmed he is now finally ready to make good on a long-mooted return to the UFC, claiming he is interested in a whole host of fights — including a potential showdown with current symbolic BMF champion, Max Holloway.
Diaz, who has been sidelined from the Octagon since his final contracted fight back in 2022, exited with a headliner win over former interim lightweight champion, Tony Ferguson.
Landing a fourth round guillotine choke submission win over the Oxnard veteran in a rallying performance, Nate Diaz would headline UFC 279 in the process, snapping a two-fight losing run in the process.
And in the time since, the Stockton veteran has featured just once in combat sports, making a sophomore professional boxing outing in a rematch with former BMF titleholder, Jorge Masvidal.
Avenging a prior 2019 doctor’s stoppage TKO loss to the Miami veteran, Nate Diaz turned in a controversial majority decision win over the former, in the pair’s professional boxing rematch.
Nate Diaz plays up imminent UFC return
Linked with a potential return to the Octagon in the time since, Diaz is currently on tour in Asia alongside current UFC heavyweight champion, Jon Jones — and recently spoke up the chances of him making a similar return to the Octagon in the near future.
“I plan on going back to UFC,” Diaz said on The HJR Podcast. “If they’ll have me, I would like to go back and whoop someone’s ass there. I’m not fighting at 155, though. Right now I’m not fighting in there because there’s nobody to fight, really. It’s kind of slow rolling. I don’t really have a name in mind right now in UFC, that’s why I’m not there right now.”
And in terms of potential opponents, Diaz name dropped a potential pairing with lightweight star, Holloway, as well as incoming vacant title challenger, Ilia Topuria.
“Those are the guys right there that I would want to fight,” Diaz said. “Like Max Holloway. I’d like to fight that other guy [Topuria]. He’s really good but he’s smaller than me. I’m done with 155, I’m cool off that. It always was [a hard weight cut], since I was 18, it was hard. I’m staying at 170. I’ll fight 185 too.”
