Nate Diaz has had his share of encounters outside the Octagon. In 2015, he and his brother Nick were involved in an altercation with Khabib Nurmagomedov and his team at a WSOF event.
In June, Nate claimed he slapped Khabib because the Dagestani was making fun of him at the time. But on Monday’s lengthy sit-down interview with ESPN’s Ariel Helwani, Diaz seems rueful about what he’d done.
“I shouldn’t have done that. It was reckless, it was stupid,” Diaz said (transcript by South China Morning Post). “I was mad, but he was picking on me. So now he’s trying to act like ‘Mr. Make It Right’. ‘I’m Mr Good, this guy’s a piece of sh-t, I don’t need this trash talk’.
“Whatever, you were gonna pick on me … trying to act like the victim, that Conor [McGregor] was picking on him.”
Diaz also claimed he was interested in a fight with “The Eagle” at first, until it fizzled out somehow.
Nowadays, he says that ship has sailed.
“Didn’t I already try to fight him?” They asked me who I wanted to fight,” Diaz said. “I said Khabib. They said no. I said I’d fight Pettis, then Masvidal for the BMF belt.
“I was (willing to fight Khabib) when it was interesting. Now, it’s like kicking a dead dog,” he added.
Diaz will headline UFC 244 against Jorge Masvidal this Saturday, November 2nd at Madison Square Garden. The two will fight for the inaugural “baddest motherf—r” title.
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