Setting up Nate Diaz vs. Jorge Masvidal seems like a no-brainer.
And the good news for mixed martial arts fans is UFC president Dana White, after watching Diaz beat Anthony Pettis impressively at UFC 241 following a three-year layoff, is certainly warm to the idea of pairing him with “Game Bread” next.
“I mean, who wouldn’t want to see that fight?” White told media Saturday night at the Honda Center in Anaheim. “I think everyone would want to see that fight. I don’t know, we’ll wait to see how everything plays out.”
Diaz hadn’t competed since his rematch with Conor McGregor at UFC 202 in the summer of 2016, but the lengthy layoff didn’t seem to impact the Stockton, Calif., native very much.
Nor did his time away from the Octagon affect his charisma and ability to use his time on the mic to excite the fans.
When asked by Joe Rogan who might be next, Diaz mentioned Masvidal as someone against whom he’d like to defend his self-proclaimed “baddest [expletive] on the planet” title.
“The reason I was off is because everybody sucked and there was nobody to fight,” Diaz said to a roar to cheers. “But with this belt, I want to defend it against Jorge Masvidal [who] had a good last fight. All respect to the man, but there ain’t no gangsters in this game anymore. There ain’t nobody who’s done it right but me and him. So, I know my man’s a gangster, but he ain’t no West Coast gangster. You know what I’m saying?”
Masvidal, who always had a devout following like Diaz, has transformed into somewhat of an MMA superstar this year thanks to a highlight-reel knockout of Darren Till followed by a backstage confrontation with Leon Edwards.
Setting a UFC record with his five-second, flying-knee knockout of Ben Askren at UFC 239 in July took his star status to new heights. Diaz of course reached superstar status when he took a short-notice fight against McGregor early in 2016 — a fight Diaz won and one that completely altered the landscape of modern MMA.
In the wake of the Askren KO, Masvidal initially had his sights set on either McGregor or Usman, but the Diaz challenge has opened up a new door of possibility.
Masvidal was a special guest of the UFC during fight week and did some media. The 34-year-old Miami native told reporters that he’d “fight King Kong in his prime” if the UFC bosses open up the chequebook, so barring a snafu in negotiations there’s no reason to think Masvidal would turn down a tilt with Diaz.
The two men currently at the top of the UFC’s 170-pound division are Usman and former-interim-champ-fans-love-to-hate Colby Covington.
Usman and Covington, who both made their UFC debuts less than five years ago and both sport 15-1 pro records, are expected to meet later this year in a five-round fight that will determine the champion…even though Diaz suggests the winner won’t be considered the best fighter in the weight class.
“You have to recognize who is the best in the game, and it’s not who they say it is,” Diaz added at the post-fight press conference. “It’s who I’m saying it is. It’s the guy who has been winning forever and still on the top of the game. … Who’s the real badass dude in the 170 division? They’re trying to pump up this dude [Askren] and Masvidal goes in there and knocks his ass out, and he’s been in here since I started fighting in 2004, I think. I think he had been there a little longer, and he just did that.
“So, that’s the best fighter to me, the best martial artist who is still on top of the game.”
There would be no official title on the line in a meeting between Diaz and Masvidal, but that scrap would conceivably do bigger business than any title fight the UFC could put together right now — at least one that didn’t involve McGregor as a challenger.
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