Nate Diaz became infamous for his public brawls apart from his incredible in-octagon durability. Avid MMA fans might know that the ‘Stockton Gangster’ also had an infamous brawl with Conor McGregor’s archrival, Khabib Nurmagomedov, and his team. This is why Diaz once took a brutal dig at ‘The Eagle’ a few months after ‘The Eagle’s’ UFC retirement.
Nurmagomedov declared his retirement after his UFC 254 fight against Justin Gaethje with a record of 29-0 in his pro-MMA career. But, Diaz’s post in January 2021 revealed that he wasn’t over his brawl with the Dagestani. The ‘West Coast Gangster’ took to his ‘X’ account and called out ‘The Eagle’ with a deriding description. Diaz wrote:
“Kabib is a pu**y for real”
Kabib is a a pussy for real
— Nathan Diaz (@NateDiaz209) January 16, 2021
Most UFC fans may not know that the Diaz brothers, Nick and Nate, came face-to-face with Nurmagomedov and his team at a ‘World Series Of Fighting’ event in 2015. The two also had a brief brawl in which Diaz claims to have slapped ‘The Eagle’.
The 0:07 mark of the above video showcases that the stories of the brawl are indeed true. But there are no videos that showcase any clear evidence of Diaz’s claims about slapping Nurmagomedov. However, it can be surely said that this was the incident that sparked bad blood between the two. While Diaz continued to make such claims about slapping Khabib, the latter also picked a point to mock Diaz.
Khabib Nurmagomedov accused Nate Diaz of running away from a fight multiple times
Nurmagomedov earned a superb victory against the renowned UFC lightweight Michel Johnson at UFC 205 on 12 November 2016. It was in one of his post-fight press conferences where he took a severe dig at Diaz. Initially, Nurmagomedov mocked Diaz because he lost 11 times in his pro-MMA career back then. Thereafter, he revealed that he had wanted to fight Diaz “three times” to date.
Nurmagomedov also mocked Diaz stating that it was ‘The Stockton Gangster’ who cowered out of the fight all three times. It won’t be wrong to say that the fans would have loved to witness the matchup. A Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Nate Diaz bout would’ve also meant a face-off between two experts in the two most popular grappling arts of the modern era.
Most fans may know that Diaz proudly stands as a representative of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu whereas the Dagestani’s ground game is mainly based on combat sambo. ‘The Eagle’ had once mocked BJJ with a provocative message on his t-shirt. Diaz would’ve stood a chance to provide a befitting reply to Nurmagomedov if the matchup happened.
