Nate Diaz Week: How 8 Seconds Forever Changed the MMA Landscape for good
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MMA is a sport where the landscape can change with one wrong split-second decision. A dominant champ is gone, an underestimated contender shines and a veteran smiles in the background having enabled all of it. For the story of how these 8 seconds featuring Nate Diaz changed the UFC to make sense, you need to know three very iconic stars and the arduous path that led them to the top.
First up we have Kamaru Usman. Born in Nigeria, had he stayed there he would’ve been just another among the billions who are barely remembered by anyone apart from the people in their immediate surroundings once they’re gone. Thankfully for the world and MMA, fate had a different story planned for young Kamaru.
Born into a military family, Kamaru’s father was successful in making sure that the rest of his kin would be able to join him in the US and live a relatively comfortable life. It is in this new country that Kamaru found his first love which would eventually take him to heights unfathomable for the 5-year-old wandering the streets of Lagos.
Instead, he took up wrestling throughout high school and ended his collegiate career among the very best in the country. At this point, he had the option to either take up Olympic wrestling or invest his time in a then still new niche sport that was often compared by its critics to human cockfighting on it’s best days.
Kamaru chose the latter and after an initial bump on the road, walked through a path of unprecedented dominance in the sport straight from his days as a Blackzillian and to his ultimate home of ONX Fitness under Trevor Whitman’s camp. From his days as an avoided contender, Kamaru found his place as an undefeated champion starting at UFC 235.
His run was unlike any seen in the Endeavor era of the company, probably only rivaled by Khabib Nurmagdeov on a good day. Dismissed as a “boring” wrestler for half of his career, Kamaru changed the narrative gaining 3 consecutive finishes in his Championship run. He got to a point where he was being hailed as the one who would shortly take up GSP’s spot as the welterweight GOAT and none other than Dana White himself led that conversation.
Related: “Till Knocked out by a Bottle” Pros react to Nate Diaz and Khamzat Chimaev’s UFC 279 backstage fight
Leon Edwards
It’s after this that we move on to the second subject in this tale. Born into a poor family, in the rural areas of Jamaica, Leon Edwards barely had a chance to make something of his life with the circumstances he was presented. However he took what he had and made the most of it
Leon and his family moved to the UK when he was only 9 years old. Things should have ideally started fallen into place considering that change in location, however bad news struck when Leon had to wake up one night to the news that his father had been murdered as a result of his gang affiliations.
Until this point all signs indicated that Leon would down the same path, but his mother took preemptive action and made him join an MMA Gym. For the meantime, Leon was distracted enough that he cut ties with the bad crowd he grew up with. After this MMA became his path.
He entered the UFC very young, and proved from the start that he was someone that would stay. However, things only kicked into next gear, when he was defeated by Kamaru Usman the first time they met. Spending more time that ever in the gym, Leon polished every aspect of MMA and went on to have a 9-fight undefeated streak.
However during his run, many had argued that he should have received a title shot in 2019 itself, however, that never happen. Leon was delayed his shot over and over again. Then came 2020 and right when Leon Edwards was supposed to headline a London Card against the former champ, the pandemic struck and the world was shut down
Leon still wanted to wrap the title around him and hence he agreed to fight a new chechen fighter with all the hype, Khamzat Chimaev. Leon’s bad luck would shine through again as that bout would fall apart multiple times. When Leon finally did get a fight, it ended in a no-contest due to him poking Belal Muhammad’s eye a little too brutally.
After this, though he had an impressive showing against Belal, he was asked to have one fight before he was eligible for a title shot. He got that at UFC 263 and it is right about here we should introduce the third and most vital character in this story.
Nate Diaz
Born Nathaniel Diaz in the hot streets of Stockton, Diaz was born for fighting and thanks to his brother, was able to find his love for the same at a very young age. His life has been a constant battle of him against the powers that be, something he shares with his brother Nick. Since he was the younger brother of Nick Diaz, a few talks could’ve gotten him straight to the UFC.
Nate chose the righteous way and entered himself into the TUF house for the show’s fifth season, winning it all and earning his spot in the UFC. While many might think a 7 figure contract should do miracles for one’s life, it was a bane in disguise for Nate Diaz. When his brother decided to leave the UFC for his hate of company politics, Nate Diaz decided to stay.
Throughout his run, he over delivered and was underpaid. Be it his double flip triangle against Kurt Pellegrino, or his return against Michael Johnson, Diaz always stood as a huge anti-hero in the MMA community.
All of this culminated with him and McGregor facing each other, with Diaz taking the bout on 12 days notice. In what many expected would be another showcase by McGregor, Diaz outlasted and outshined the UFC’s Golden Boy and became the first to hand him a loss in the UFC.
From here Diaz’s cult status was established and he went on to fight McGregor, Pettis and Masvidal in the following year. The letter among them faced in event that was the brainchild of Diaz himself, the fight for the BMF Belt. At this point in his career Diaz was determined to only take fights that excited him or contenders he felt were worthy.
Nate Diaz would take a break from the sport and return in 2021 at UFC 263. His opponent? The second hero of our story, Leon Edwards. Both men were aware this was a mismatch with Diaz being a natural lightweight at 36 years old, and Leon a huge welterweight in the prime of his life.
The fight went as everyone expected with Leon Edwards doing as he wishes with the veteran, scoring multiple trips and blooding him up by the end of the fourth. However, in the patented Diaz fashion, he kept walking ahead into strikes like a terminator waiting for a chance to strike.
That would come at the 4-minute mark of the final round. This would become a moment in history that changed the UFC forever. Completely sure he was winning, Leon would loosen up by the end of the fight and Diaz would make him pay. He landed a picture-perfect 1-2 that left the Brit visibly shaken on wobbly legs.
Any other fighter would have immediately charged at their opponent at the sight of this but Diaz is not any other opponent. Perfectly encapsulating the theatrics of fighting, Diaz would spend the next 8 seconds, pointing at and taunting Leon before landing his first strike. The significant gap between the action gave Leon enough time to regain himself and he was barely able to survive the round.
After the fight, Diaz would maintain his cult image while Leon would again ride under the cloud of bad luck as the only thing people talked about was the closing moments of the fight and not the absolute domination that preceded it. However, Nate would have a word with Leon that perfectly summed up the kind of fighter he is, a fighter’s fighter.
“Nate told me after the fight ‘don’t let these motherfuckers tell you [you] ain’t shit. Name your price or they will name it for you’ and I felt that,” wrote Leon about the talk he had with Nate immediately after the results were read.
Had Diaz not spent those 8 seconds taunting, Leon would have a long way to climb back up to the spot he was in, Nate would’ve gone on to challenge for a title and Kamaru would have probably wrestled him to a decision tying Anderson Silva’s record.
With Diaz facing Khamzat Chimaev this weekend in what will probably be his last fight for the UFC, let us take a moment to appreciate the impact his actions /inactions have had on the UFC landscape. Thank You Nate!
Also Read: “You ain’t friends ” – Nate Diaz puts Kamaru Usman and Israel Adesanya’s friendship to test
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Jerin Mathew
(713 Articles Published)