UFC Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier issued a rebuttal to Nate Diaz after the latter called him “bitter” for questioning his legacy.
Diaz, who is currently preparing for his May 16 MMA return against Mike Perry on Netflix, claimed Cormier was jealous of his financial success outside the UFC. Reports indicate Diaz will earn $10 million for the Perry fight. Cormier pointed out the massive disparity in their professional records. He then listed a long string of Diaz’s 13 career defeats, including losses to Clay Guida, Joe Stevenson, and Josh Thomson. Cormier is also a two-weight world champion, having won belts at light heavyweight and heavyweight, while Diaz has yet to win a UFC title.
“Nate Diaz decided to come at me again, because that’s just what he does. I thought I was very respectful of him when he said I can’t fight, and when you start to put our careers next to each other, obviously there’s an ocean of difference between our careers. But this one is centered around money, and very specific. So what I’ll say is…Nate Diaz I think is reacting to what I said about him and Mike Perry’s fight, and saying that I was excited about it because I know exactly what it is.
“We pretend to know everything? I don’t, I don’t know everything about fighting…when you talk about people analyzing fights, there’s one thing that’s [similar], and that is we were champions. Let’s compare [our losses] – Jon Jones, Stipe Miocic, that’s it! 13 [losses] to 13 people! When I lost those fights, I was in my mid-to-late 30s, and you were losing fights in your 20s in your absolute athletic prime in a sport that you chose, and you got beat multiple times by all these people!
“But you wanna talk about me? Mr. Champion? When I was 40, I was winning the UFC heavyweight championship. That’s what I keep telling you, Nathan, we’re different people…you’re mad because the reality is, you’re average. You’ve always been, and you keep punching above your head – at Khabib, Justin Gaethje, Dustin Poirier, all of these dudes had titles. Let it go. I don’t dislike Nate Diaz – but if you ask me what I feel about his career, you’re average,” Diaz said