Nate Diaz blasts Khamzat Chimaev, hails Tony Ferguson and teases boxing switch after UFC 279 win

Nate Diaz made his thoughts, and his intentions, clear as he chatted with Joe Rogan following his fourth-round submission of Tony Ferguson at UFC 279.

Diaz claimed the finish after a thrilling battle with former interim lightweight champ Ferguson after the pair were matched on 24 hours’ notice following his original opponent Khamzat Chimaev’s massive weight miss at Friday’s weigh-ins.

Speaking to Rogan, Diaz admitted he came into the bout with no boxing training after undergoing a “full-blown wrestling fight camp” for Chimaev, who he put on blast for his weigh-in issues before paying tribute to Ferguson for facing him on short notice on the night.

“I was like, this is such a b*tch-ass rookie, I wasn’t even worried about a b*tch-ass rookie,” he said.

“I’m just here to get my job done. I had one fight left. I told them after not letting me have fights forever, I was like, ‘Give me anybody you’ve got,’ and at least I got a worthy OG representative of mixed martial arts to do it on.”

With the final fight of his UFC contract in the books, the conversation then turned to Diaz’s fighting future.

“All I know is it’s been a love-hate relationship with me and the UFC the whole time I’ve been in this f**cking organisation,” he explained.

“But, at the end of the day, I love the UFC. Shout out to Dana White, Lorenzo Fertitta and Hunter Campbell for giving the opportunities and the platform the whole time for everybody, and for myself.

“I feel like I’ve had the longest career in the UFC, and I’ve had the most successful one. I outdid everyone on pay, I outdid everybody on surviving, and I want to get out of the UFC for a minute and show all these UFC fighters how to take over and own up another sport – how you’re supposed to do it.

“Conor McGregor didn’t know how to do it, and none of these other fighters know how to do it. So I’m going to go out there, I’m gonna take over another profession and become the best at that, show everybody I’m the best at that, then I’ll be right back here to get a UFC title, the best title in the world.”