Nate Diaz has opened up about the one opponent who gave him his toughest fight.
In his esteemed career, the MMA veteran has cemented his status as one of the most popular competitors in UFC history.
Diaz’s Stockton slap is the stuff of legend, and fans adore watching his willingness to walk through every shot thrown in his direction to get the win.
However, on a night the scrapper will never forget, he faced a warrior who was just as tenacious as he is.
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Nate Diaz says Josh Neer was his hardest fight
Nate Diaz has shared the cage with an array of tough opponents, but the brawler claims none gave him a tougher fight than Josh Neer.
On September 17, 2008, the future UFC Hall of Famer beat his rival via split decision in an epic contest at the Omaha Civic Auditorium in Omaha, Nebraska, USA.
In an interview on Bradley Martin’s Raw Talk Podcast, the icon explained: “I always say it, but there’s a guy that I fought, named Josh Neer.
“He’s a motherf—–. He’s my boy now, though, we’re homies.
“But Josh Neer fought my brother, and they was fighting for three rounds, hard, and Nick’s doing his thing, hitting him a lot, and I was like ‘This f—— guy is crazy.’
“And then Nick [Diaz] ended up finishing him in the third round, though; most people Nick finished were all in the first round and maybe the second round.
“Time went by, and then he went down to 155, where I was fighting at. And I asked for a better opponent.
“I was beating people – that’s when I first got to the UFC, I beat a few people.
“And so they gave me Josh Neer, who was one of the top five guys. That’s right, when I started to fight top people. And it was my hardest fight.
“I watched him fight so much, and then trained so perfect for him that everything was like – he’d throw punches, I slipped it right under it, grabbed him and everything.
“But he countered everything, and it was like if you watch that fight, me versus Josh Neer, it’s a hundred miles an hour. It’s a good fight.”
Nate Diaz made startling comment before his famous submission victory over Conor McGregor
After his victory over Neer, Diaz continued to garner the attention of fans for his thrilling performances.
In his defining display, the BJJ black belt submitted Conor McGregor via rear-naked choke.
While ‘The Notorious’ had mentally destroyed almost everyone he’d set foot in the cage with prior, he wasn’t able to break his arch-nemesis.
Before their fight, Diaz made a very interesting comment to McGregor.