Nate Diaz is set to face Jorge Masvidal for the second time in his combat sports career, and he’s hoping to even the score against “Gamebred” now that he’s healthy.
Diaz and Masvidal met in November 2019 for what was originally supposed to be a one-round fight for the “Baddest Motherf—er Belt.” The two men went three rounds in an entertaining war… until the doctor called off the fight before the fourth round due to a bad cut above Diaz’s eye.
It’s not the most BMF way to end things, but it seemed like Masvidal was getting the upper hand as the fight progressed. Things might be different this time around, though. During a panel discussion to promote the boxing rematch, Diaz revealed that he fought with a knee injury that was hampering his movement and cardio.
“I don’t like to make excuses, so I didn’t,” Diaz said (via Boxingscene). “But now here we are years later – I had a torn meniscus in my knee two weeks before the fight. The fight was huge, at Madison Square Garden in New York, and there was no reason for me not to be there. The fight would have been a completely different story if I had been at more than 20% of my capacity.”
Fans may be tired of betting on Diaz only to find out later that he hasn’t been able to train for one reason or another. Nate recently admitted that he ditched his fight camp for Jake Paul’s boxing match and went on a “four-week binge” after injuring his arm. He was then taken down and soundly defeated by Paul via unanimous decision.
“I wish I could have done it a little better,” he admitted. “It was necessary to really kick his ass (in a rematch).”
Diaz will need to put on a good performance against Masvidal tonight if he wants to convince fans that he is still a fighter to watch. He still has a trilogy fight coming up with Conor McGregor, but the payoff of that fight will depend a lot on what we see from Nate in the ring.
“I see this as a fight that needs to happen,” Diaz said of the McGregor fight. “I want to get this fight over with so I can think about the future. UFC 306 (at the Sphere in Las Vegas) would be great if that was an option. I want to have big fights against the best opponents for the rest of my career.”
