Nathan Diaz is a fighter defined by moments.
Not titles.
Or even wins necessarily.
No, Diaz is the UFC antihero who equal parts gangster, promoter and little brother, who smoking blunts, mumbling like Muttley and sporting more black than Johnny Cash, who despite never fighting for a title and, in his prime, disappearing like that mysterious uncle sent to the can, is tattooed by the 209, the double bird and Stockton Slap.
Diaz is the everyman who shuns authority, welcomes adversity, and didn’t simply go upset the biggest name in combat sports, but bloodied and still snarling afterwards, then shouted his way into immortality with: “I’m not surprised motherf … ers”.
A fighter who as recently as this morning, was part of a backstage brawl that caused UFC boss Dana White to cancel arguably the year’s most hyped press conference.
‘Absolute s***show’: UFC presser ABANDONED in wild scenes as brawl erupts
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“Absolute shitshow,” is how White described the chaotic scenes which, somewhere behind the curtain, and involving several fighters and their teams, were troublesome enough to have the event cancelled for safety reasons.
Which is undeniably the Diaz signature, right?
Watch UFC 279: Chimaev v Diaz LIVE on Main Event available on Kayo & Foxtel, Sunday 11 September from 12pm AEST. ORDER NOW >
Unlike almost every other fighter on planet earth, Stockton’s favourite son has come to transcend wins and losses.
With Diaz, even at 37, as beloved for choking out Conor McGregor as he is bleeding, hurling bottles, flipping the bird, lighting up, throwing down, walking out, or not showing at all, threatening Dana White, deferring to big brother Nick, winning The Ultimate Fighter 5, and dreaming up, then losing, the BMF title.
Even in his most recent showing against now welterweight king Leon Edwards, Diaz went and lost four rounds before rocking, and almost stopping the English favourite late.
Which still wasn’t anywhere near enough to win over the judges.
But everyone else?
Yeah, you loved him for that.
So what chance he can now go make one more moment this Sunday?
Undoubtedly, this is why so many eyeballs will be on UFC 279 in Las Vegas – when this Californian street tough, in what is likely his Octagon swan song, faces that undefeated Chechen wrecking ball otherwise known as Khamzat Chimaev.
Sure, this may seem the greatest sporting mismatch since Christians versus the lions.
With Las Vegas bookmakers having already wound Diaz out as far as +900, with his rival a staggering -1200.
Closer to home, the TAB also has this Octagon OG an $8 outsider, with Chimaev $1.08.
Yet despite those juiciest of odds, and the countless hoards comprising that famed Diaz Army, the money is still running eight-to-one against the Californian in this last fight on his UFC contract.
In one case, an Australian has bet $5000 on Chimaev to win just $400. While another has wagered $4000 to win $320.
With the TAB is also taking a stack of $1000 bets from Aussies looking to effectively win themselves two slabs of beer.
But still, UFC 279 is a must watch for the same reasons we all tuned in to see Danny Green in 2009, when he was a six-to-one outsider against American boxing icon Roy Jones Jnr.
The same icon Greeny iced in round one.
Then there’s former South Sydney fullback Garth Wood, who was never meant to go on the The Contender series, but squeaked in as a late replacement anyway, won the TV tournament, then went and kayoed Anthony ‘The Man’ Mundine.
Jeff Horn beating Manny Pacquiao? Unforgettable. Same deal Jeff Harding’s upset over Dennis Andries for the WBC light heavyweight title.
While who outside immediate family gave Wollongong concreter Alexander Volkanovski a chance of taking that title from Max Holloway way back in 2019?
Which again, is why everyone will be watching Diaz.
What if?
Like maybe, somehow, this fella defined by the streets can encourage – or more specifically, goad — a wrasslin’ monster like Chimaev to keep things standing. Or as against Edwards, go and find himself a way somewhere in the championship rounds, no matter the pounding it takes to get there.
Undoubtedly, Diaz is durable, boasts good hands and simply has no quit in him. Like Steven Bradbury, skating right up until the finish if Chimaev, no matter how unlikely, slips and falls.
What if?
Certainly if Diaz does go do the unthinkable, his popularity will enter another stratosphere.
McGregor territory.
Same as Dana White will almost certainly have to find whatever zeros are required to re-sign the fighter who will likely otherwise disappear into a world as diverse as boxing Jake Paul, smoking blunts and overseeing his own fight promotion, Real Fight Inc.
Regardless, as always with Diaz, you know something is coming.
It’s why we tune in.
What if?
