Nick Diaz Breaks Silence After Nate’s Loss

Nick Diaz, one of the most unique characters in the world of MMA, has been largely silent in 2016. With his marijuana suspension finally wrapped up and a return to the cage imminent, Diaz recently spoke out about his younger brother Nate’s recent loss to Conor McGregor.

Appearing on Opie Radio, Diaz lamented the fact that the UFC kept him from cornering his brother at UFC 202, where Nate rematched Conor McGregor after defeating him in March. Because he had not yet paid the totality of his fine following his suspension, Diaz was barred from working Nate’s corner. According to Nick, that small detail could have swayed the fight in McGregor’s favor.

"Just one inch, that’s the difference between how that fight could’ve gone," Nick said. "As far as I’m concerned, I definitely would’ve been that inch. … They just wanted to keep me out of there. They know that it would’ve definitely helped him out a lot.

"I was seeing things in that fight that I would’ve called and told him. I was seeing things that he wasn’t seeing, because I do these things and I know how they work out for me. It’s kind of like a formula, you know what I mean? And I’m like, hey look, this is what you do. Come the third and fourth round, I think if I would’ve been there, we would’ve been able to put it together and got that guy out of there."

In the younger Diaz’s second bout with Conor McGregor, he struggled in the early rounds, getting dropped three times in the first two stanzas, before piling on the pressure as he did in their first meeting. In the third round, Nate swarmed McGregor along the fence and appeared close to finishing the fight.

The elder Diaz wishes he had been able to communicate with Nate during the fight, because he knows his brother’s style better than anyone else could.

"I would’ve told him not to throw punches at that dude at all, because he’s going to sit there and watch you and try to counter everything," Nick said. "So all you do is fake at him and flick at him and f*ck with him, and that’s how you do that. But he went out there and just, he just didn’t have it together in the first round, and I think I could’ve clicked him into the right mindset.

"Plus, me standing in front of him, fooling around with him and standing in front of him with my right hand forward — all three of us stand the same way, so he doesn’t have anybody else like that to kinda work with him, and I just think that it would’ve definitely helped out having me there a little bit."

Diaz did not confirm whether he would be fighting in the near future, but there have been rumors that he and the UFC are working on getting his next fight set up.