Nate Diaz: ‘The UFC better hope I don’t win this fight’

Nate Diaz is never one to shy away from speaking his mind. The #5 ranked lightweight frequently speaks out against the UFC brass, and calls them out over the issue of fighter pay.

Back in March, Diaz handed Conor McGregor the first loss of his professional career in the main event of UFC 196 when he submitted the featherweight champ. Now, ahead of their rematch at UFC 202 on August 20th, Diaz believes that another win over McGregor would mean a big shake-up in the UFC’s business plans.

He spoke to Yahoo Sports:

“People will say, ‘I’ll fight anybody, I love to fight.’ You love to fight? [Expletive] that. People say that. And, yeah, I said that. And I woke up. It takes a lot of fighting to wake up. ‘I’ll fight anybody for free? I’ll fight anybody?’ That’s what [the UFC] wants. That’s what pads their bottom line. Then I realized, ‘[Expletive] you [expletive], you’re playing me.’

…

“I [expletive] up everyone’s plan by winning that fight (UFC 196). I was like, ‘Ha, ha, you [expletives], call me for the next one, you better come with something good.’ I don’t give a [expletive]. You didn’t give me enough money but I come from a place with no money and you give me too much money. I don’t give a [expletive] about making more. I am doing better than I was ever supposed to do.”

…

“[The UFC] better hope I don’t win this fight because it’s going to be a lot of trouble for everybody, in terms of the business. This one coming up, they better hope I don’t win this one because the game is going to change.”