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In an interesting turn of events, Nate Diaz has shown interest in returning to the UFC in 2024. The Stockton native has been critical of the UFC and parted ways with the organization after defeating Tony Ferguson in September 2022. He ventured into the influencer boxing circuit after the UFC departure and lost to Jake Paul in his professional boxing debut on August 5, 2023.
The UFC is set to cross another milestone as the UFC 300 pay-per-view event is on the horizon. The event will take place at the T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada on April 13, 2024, and only three fights have been announced so far. Diaz recently took to X and expressed his desire to compete in the milestone event:
“UFC 300 would be tight but there’s nobody to fight.”
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Former interim UFC lightweight champion Dustin Poirier responded to Diaz’s post and called him out for a five-round fight:
Poirier went on to write:
“Don't be scared homie.”
Poirier is coming off a knockout loss against Justin Gaethje in the ceremonial BMF title fight match at UFC 292. He is currently the No. 3 ranked lightweight in the world. Meanwhile, Diaz has not competed at lightweight since defeating Michael Johnson in December 2015. All six of his most recent UFC fights took place at welterweight.
‘The Diamond’ has spoken about moving up to welterweight on several occasions. However, there hasn’t been an official announcement yet.
Nate Diaz and Dustin Poirier’s previous run-ins in the UFC
Nate Diaz and Dustin Poirier were scheduled to fight each other in the UFC 230 co-main event on November 3, 2018. However, Poirier pulled out of the fight due to a hip injury and the duo went in different directions for the rest of their UFC careers.
Diaz shut down Poirier’s callout in October 2020, citing his loss against Khabib Nurmagomedov as the reason. However, the Louisiana native’s stock jumped significantly after his back-to-back wins over Conor McGregor and the rivalry heated up again.
Poirier expressed the desire to fight Diaz in a cryptic post on X after coming up short against Charles Oliveira at UFC 269. Diaz’s departure from the UFC in 2022 put an end to the possibility of this fight materializing under the organization’s umbrella.
