Former UFC lightweight contender Nate Diaz has said that undisputed champion Khabib Nurmagomedov should be looking for a fight with him after he slapped him at a WSOF event in 2015.
Diaz has not fought in the UFC since his 2016 loss to former lightweight champion Conor McGregor but now wants to move up to welterweight after a comeback fight with Anthony Pettis has been penciled in for UFC 241 in August.
Diaz said that Pettis was one of the most entertaining fighters in the UFC and was the best fight for him upon his return to the Octagon but also noted that he wanted to leave the lightweight division as king despite boasting an 11-6 record there as a UFC fighter.
“I’m just done with the 155 thing,” Diaz said on The Ariel Helwani MMA Show.
“That’s in the past. I think it’s time to fight at a more comfortable weight class. There’s nothing for me there. I already did everything, beat everybody.
“I feel I’m the king of that division anyways. I mean, I am the king of that division. So I’m just going to leave it where it’s at. There was no love for it. There’s no opponents there. That s—‘s weak.”
When host Ariel Helwani countered his statement by highlighting that a lot of people would point to the undefeated Nurmagomedov as the king of the lightweight division, Diaz detailed a story where the two clashed at a World Series of Fighting event.
“At World Series of Fighting [cageside in Las Vegas in 2015],” Diaz said of the incident.
“The reason he got slapped was because he’s not humble and not this nice guy. He’s there with his friend, trying to get a fight with me, taking a picture of me and making fun of me.
“So I capitalized and told him, ‘F— you,’ and I slapped him in his face. And he was spooked for his life. His whole team? Nobody did s—. I had Kron Gracie with me, it was 2-on-15. That whole Russian army who thought they were hard? They were scared for their life when that happened.”
Diaz will fight Pettis in a welterweight bout on Aug. 17 in Anaheim, California with Daniel Cormier fighting Stipe Miocic in the main event.
