'Everybody is whack'… Nate Diaz claims the UFC only has two stars right now
03/15/2025 07:07 AM
Stockton’s finest says that he’d like to fight in the UFC again but there’s one big thing that is stopping him.
Nate Diaz has his sights on stepping back inside the Octagon but he’s looking for a matchup that will get him excited.
The former lightweight and welterweight fan favorite has shared the cage with some big names during his career with Diaz’s shock win over Conor McGregor being solidified in the history books.
Though Diaz has also been teasing another boxing match, a return to the UFC would be huge but there’s one big obstacle that is stopping that from happening.
In the 39-year-old’s opinion, the promotion has no stars right now and he wants to come back with something big.
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Nate Diaz says that a lack of stars is stopping his UFC return from happening
In a recent interview with Full Violence, Nate Diaz spoke about the possibility of him competing inside the Octagon once again.
His last fight took place at UFC 279 where he submitted Tony Ferguson in the final fight on his contract before competing in boxing matches against Jake Paul and Jorge Masvidal.
Diaz has frequently stated in recent years that there’s nothing that excites him in the UFC in the same way that his 2019 return against Anthony Pettis and Masvidal did.
This feeds into an ongoing debate right now surrounding the MMA leader’s current pool of top stars and whether this is an issue for them right now.
When Diaz spoke about what’s holding up his UFC return, he referenced the lack of stars whilst naming two former rivals as the only exciting guys.
“It’s about buzz and who’s popping and who’s doing something and right now, there’s nobody doing s— in the UFC. There’s f——, what’s his name, ‘Poatan’, Alex Pereira. So there’s him and there was (Israel) Adesanya too. I mean he’s still there but he’s not doing much right now.”
Pereira has undoubtedly been one of the biggest names in the sport in recent times but his loss to Magomed Ankalaev at UFC 313 opened up the star debate.
For Diaz, he just wants somebody to start making some serious noise because whilst he wants to fight for the welterweight title, he doesn’t think there’s anyone that is on his level of star status.
“Nobody, that’s why I’m not in there right now, you know what I’m saying? But I’m watching, I’m hoping for something. There’s no buzz, nobody’s doing s—, there’s nobody to fight, everybody is whack. Every single body in boxing and in MMA and everyone who has got anything going for them thinks they’re tight.”
What could tempt Nate Diaz back?
When you look at what has tempted Nate Diaz back in the past, it’s clear that he wants a big fight that has stakes hanging over it.
He called out Jorge Masvidal after ‘Gamebred’ became the talk of the sport following his knockout of Ben Askren and whilst Leon Edwards didn’t have the same kind of hype, their five-round bout had title implications.
When looking at the names who could inspire Diaz to step back inside the Octagon, welterweight might be a bit low on options but any of the marquee names at lightweight moving up would be more than suitable.
There is still unfinished business with Dustin Poirier even if ‘The Diamond’ has the finish line in sight with another option being Max Holloway’s BMF title, although Diaz would probably have to drop down to 155-pounds for that one.
Not to mention the likes of Charles Oliveira, Justin Gaethje and Paddy Pimblett who might not be realistic options but they would seemingly have big enough profiles to tempt Diaz back if they could meet at welterweight.
