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Nate Diaz: The only worthy opponents they have here for me are Francis Ngannou or Adesanya

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Saikat Banerjee
Saikat Banerjee
A wordsmith who indulges in the world of combat sports, Saikat Banerjee is an MMA, boxing, and arm wrestling content writer at The MMA India Show and The Sports Room. Apart from combat sports, he also engages in Indian sports content at The Sports India Show. Currently pursuing an MBA from Jadavpur University, Saikat's other interests lie in motorcycling, working out, and travelling.
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UFC Welterweight contender Nate Diaz has made evident that he’s willing to take on any fighter the promotion throws at him, except for Francis Ngannou or Israel Adesanya, the reigning Heavyweight and Middleweight champions respectively.

In recent times, Nate Diaz‘s relations with the UFC has gone downhill. The Stockton native, who remains one of the top fan favourites in the sport, has only one fight left on his current contract and accused the promotion for repeatedly ignoring him and last month, openly called for a fight with “anyone”, if not a bid adieu to the UFC.

Nearly a month later, the former Lightweight title challenger made a guest appearance in an exclusive interview with Ariel Helwani on “The MMA Hour” this Tuesday, discussing the fighter’s future in the Octagon.

Nate Diaz wants to fight “somebody who’s done something great”

Nate Diaz: UFC 'keeping me hostage, and I want out'
Image Courtesy: MMA Junkie

Diaz revealed to Helwani that for the one bout remaining on his currently deal with the UFC, he has received only one offer- a fight with Khamzat Chimaev, but any effort to secure that offer has also gone south.

“They haven’t offered me anybody,” said Diaz, “I’ve been asking for fights since whenever. I asked for a lot of fights. I asked for (Vicente) Luque, Tony Ferguson. I asked for like four or five people, and there was no going there, and then they finally offered me the Khamzat (Chimaev) fight, and I gave them the little, ‘What the f*ck.’”

“And then I was like, ‘Why not? Let’s just get it done with and get it over with,'” he went on, “I asked for the Khamzat fight and then all kinds of excuses started happening. But remember I was like I want December, I want January, I want March, I want all these things.”

At this point, Diaz claims he’s willing to accept any fighter even if he has to step into the Octagon the next day but on one condition- the fighter has to be someone who has left their mark in the sport. However, that list excludes Ngannou and Adesanya.

“The only worthy opponents they have here for me is f****** Francis Ngannou or (Israel) Adesanya. With all due respect, because I don’t even want to fight those guys. I like those guys a lot. But if I’m going to fight anybody, it’s going to be somebody who’s done something great like those f*****s,” Diaz concluded. [H/T Heavy.com]

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