Nate Diaz only needed five words to clap back at Brendan Schaub after the ex-fighter’s intense rant yesterday.
The former UFC heavyweight contender has been going back-and-forth with Diaz after he mocked Schaub in a tweet believed to be responding to a recent podcast. Schaub was overcome with emotion after reading about the struggles of ex-interim champion Shane Carwin in the UFC’s Anti-Trust lawsuit.
Diaz, a former lightweight title contender in the UFC and one of the sport’s biggest names, took aim at the fighter-turned-comedian on social media. It led to an epic takedown from Schaub on his podcast, to which his rival has little response.
Nate Diaz mocked Brendan Schaub in outlandish tweet
The feud between the pair was reignited when Nate Diaz took X, formerly Twitter, to share a message where he branded his rival “Brendan the big ol’ p**** Schaub.” What made him say such a thing is unclear, but the heavyweight believed it to be a viral clip of his teary speech about Carwin.
Diaz and Schaub first came head-to-head backstage at Conor McGregor vs Floyd Mayweather in 2017 when the Stockton native took issue with something that he had said in the build-up. It led to an awkward encounter, but since turning to comedy Schaub has generally opted to stay away from fights.
It also appears that Diaz will oftentimes find himself in seemingly random spats with different personalities in MMA or boxing. And this particular reaction seemed uncharacteristic given his own issues with the UFC.
Brendan Schaub challenged Nate Diaz to a grappling match
After seeing Diaz’s tweet, Brendan Schaub retaliated by noting that their massive size difference would make even a grappling match between the pair an easy win. Diaz has fought as low as 155lb in his career and seemed heavy at 185lb facing Jake Paul last year. Meanwhile, Schaub competed around 245lb.
“Oooh buddy. I prob got 20lbs on you so not too far off,” he replied. “I’ll snap your neck. Set up a grappling match and let me know how it goes for you. Have one of your handlers read this tweet and get back to me.”
He then went on his podcast Thiccc Boy and further eviscerated Diaz, noting that much of his ‘tough guy’ image is just a gimmick. He compared the Stockton native to Colby Covington, whose over the top Make America Great Again shtick has made him a pro wrestling-style villain to fans.
Nate Diaz reacts after being scorched by Brendan Schaub
Diaz is known as one of the toughest men on the planet, and even had a UFC belt made for him when he fought Jorge Masvidal in 2019 declaring the winner the ‘Baddest MF’ in MMA. He didn’t win the title, but did defeat Masvidal in a rematch when they faced off in the boxing ring this summer.
But Schaub noted that his training, which at one point had him as a top ten UFC heavyweight, coupled with the monstrous size difference, would mean that he would very easily defeat Diaz in a street fight. It was part of an epic rant towards the former lightweight title contender.
“That’s social media, this isn’t real,” Schaub noted in an explosive rant. “Because here’s what’s real, I will f*** you up – that’s real. I’m not asking for this. I don’t want to f*** him up, I’m not trying to f*** him up. End of the day if he walked in right now and I said Chin, Case [his producers] everyone leave?
“Only one of us is going to walk out unscathed and it’s me. Every f***ing day of the week, 365 days a year, I will snap his f***ing neck. I know, I know, what’s his area code? 209? I get all that, very cool. None of that is real.
“Oh but he did great against Donald Cerrone? Did you see him against Leon Edwards? I get it, he’s had some great fights, tough dude. I don’t give a f***. I’m 245lb, trained black belt, top ten UFC heavyweight in the world at one point.
“I’m not out of shape, I’m a f***ing beast when it comes down to it. I know, I tell jokes, I do crazy s***, I’ve made some mistakes, I got knocked out by Nogueira, Fighter and The Kid, silly dude, all that, I get all of that.
“At the end of the day, the way this works, I’m not a civilian like the rest of his goons around him, I’m not this fake gangster, I don’t go looking for fights. I know I’m tough, I don’t need to get on Twitter every day and blast it out because I’m insecure because of whatever s*** he has going on with childhood trauma.”
But Diaz doesn’t seem to have taken it too much to heart, simply tweeting out a five word retort that harkens back to one of Schaub’s most infamous phrases. “I think you’d be surprised,” which Diaz posted this evening, has a lot of history in the comedy and MMA worlds.
It initially became a viral moment when Schaub told Joe Rogan those famous words when asked how he would do in a wrestling match with Cain Velasquez. After being widely ridiculed by fans after Rogan threw the line back at him, he decided to retire and pursue a comedy and podcasting career.
And Schaub attempted to reclaim the phrase when he named his first Showtime special ‘You’d Be Surprised’. However, that also backfired as the hour-long show was universally panned and became one of the lowest-rated specials in comedy history.
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