Nate Diaz: ‘Who said I was retired? I’ll fight tonight’
Nate Diaz says he wished the UFC would have given his eye more time to heal from his last fight vs. Anthony Pettis. (0:52)
Ariel Helwani is an MMA reporter at ESPN. Follow him on Twitter at @arielhelwani.
Make no mistake about it, Nate Diaz has not retired.
Earlier this week, Diaz seemed to insinuate on social media that he was done with mixed martial arts.
“F— a rematch this s— was over before it started,” he wrote in an Instagram post. “I’m goin on out on tour. Peace out fight game.”
That post led to speculation that Diaz had retired from active competition, but Diaz confirmed to ESPN on Saturday that he’s still ready to fight.
“Who said I was retired? I’ll fight tonight,” Diaz said.
On Nov. 2 at UFC 244, Diaz lost via third-round doctor’s stoppage to Jorge Masvidal. In an interview following the somewhat controversial finish, Diaz campaigned for an immediate rematch. However, at the postfight news conference, UFC president Dana White didn’t seem too keen on it for Diaz’s next fight.
While his future plans are still unknown, prior to UFC 244, Diaz told ESPN he would never call it quits on the fight game.
“I’ll fight forever,” he said. “I’m never going to retire, that’s for sure.”