NATE DIAZ HAS expressed his interest in returning to action later this year.
In an Instagram post, the 32-year-old mixed martial arts veteran intimated that he intends to make his comeback in May or June. ESPN later confirmed with a source close to the Californian that he’s planning to fight again around that time.
Diaz posted: “Sick of sitting around waiting for you fuckers to do shit. There’s no excitement in this fight shit. Step your games up. I’ll see you around May, June. Sincerely, the real champ.”
The former UFC lightweight title contender hasn’t fought since August 2016, when he suffered a majority-decision defeat to Conor McGregor in their welterweight rematch in Las Vegas.
Five months earlier, Diaz gave McGregor his first taste of defeat in the UFC when he forced the Dubliner to tap to a second-round rear-naked choke, despite stepping in on less than two weeks’ notice to replace the injured Rafael dos Anjos.
After his loss to McGregor at UFC 202, Diaz insisted that he wouldn’t fight again until a trilogy bout with the Irish star was arranged. However, in responding to Diaz’s latest comments, UFC president Dana White said a clash with the reigning lightweight champion won’t be an option upon the Stockton native’s return.
White told TMZ: “I’ll tell you what, I’ll call him [Diaz] today and make an offer. I’ve got to look at the rankings, see where everyone is. I will make Nate Diaz an offer to fight today.”
He added: “I think people would rather see Conor come back and either fight Tony [Ferguson] or Khabib [Nurmagomedov] — whoever wins — and the Nate Diaz fight isn’t going anywhere. We can do that thing any time.”
McGregor hasn’t competed in mixed martial arts since winning the lightweight title from Eddie Alvarez in November 2016. Ferguson, the interim lightweight champion, is scheduled to fight Nurmagomedov at UFC 223 in Brooklyn on 7 April.
