Nate Diaz on UFC return: ‘Ask nicely, motherf***kers’

Published on Thursday, 12/21/17, at 12:36 p.m. Eastern.

After a couple of handsome paydays in his first two fights with Conor McGregor, perennial lightweight contender and UFC fan favorite Nate Diaz isn’t in any hurry to get back into the Octagon.

The younger of the Diaz Brothers hasn’t fought since his narrow decision loss to McGregor in their rematch in August of 2016. On less than two weeks notice, Diaz took the first fight with McGregor and handed ‘The Notorious’ his first UFC loss by second-round submission at UFC 196.

Diaz appeared on the Outside the Box podcast earlier this week and had plenty to say about his eventual return to the cage.

“I’m not fighting because I am a fighter. You’re fighting because someone’s telling you to fight,” Diaz said. “I’ll fight whenever the f**k I wanna fight. That’s because I’m a G, n**ga, I’m a fighter myself. I ain’t trying to do what nobody says, I’ll do what I say. And I will fight when I’m approached respectably.”

“I don’t need to fight nobody,” Diaz continued. “I’ll fight anybody, but I don’t need to fight anybody. And the fighters are like, ‘He’s not a fighter,’ I’m like, it sounds like you’re being manipulated into trying to manipulate me into getting into a fight. Guess what? You work for somebody; I work for me. Who’s the fighter now, motherf**er?”

Diaz has been called out recently by interim lightweight champ Tony Ferguson and welterweight kingpin Tyron Woodley. He was reportedly offered fights with both men in recent months, but didn’t bite on either option. The 209/Stockton native reportedly demanded $15 million to take on Woodley, who said he accepted an offer to face Diaz at UFC 219 on Dec. 30. Talk of this potential scrap eventually died.

On his fighting plans for 2018, Diaz said, “Ask nicely, motherf**ers. Ask nicely. I’m talking about the organization, the fighters. And make it a big deal, because I’m not trying to just sign a contract just because it’s a good idea for you guys.”

When asked specifically about when he would complete his trilogy with McGregor on Outside the Box, Diaz said, “Time will tell. I don’t know right now. There’s talk. They (the UFC) call me, we talk about things, but I think what’s happening is they want me to ask, and beg, and I don’t need nothing from nobody. I don’t need nothing from anybody.”