10 most notorious street fights in MMA

#3 Round four of Nick Diaz vs Joe Riggs....in a hospital!!!

Long before Conor McGregor, Nate Diaz or Cody Garbrandt, there was Nick Diaz. It’s hard to believe that the original foul-mouthed anti-hero of MMA is only 33 years old – he made his UFC debut in 2003!

The origins of his toxin-spewing can be traced back to his fight against Diego Sanchez, but that was uncharacteristically PG compared to what came next. Diaz was pitted against Joe Riggs, who was looking for redemption after losing to Matt Hughes. Having taken the title fight on short notice after original challenger Karo Parisyan tore his hamstring, Riggs missed 170 lbs and the belt was subsequently taken out of the pot.

Diaz flicked mud at Riggs throughout the whole press conference and the two nearly preponed their fight to the weigh-ins. The tangle itself was a gritty slugfest, with Riggs doing enough to get the nod from all three judges.

But the fists didn’t stop flying after the final bell. Both fighters were taken to the same hospital for post-fight examination, where surprisingly, Riggs zeroed in on Diaz and told him that he should go back to WEC because the UFC were going to cut him after this second consecutive loss. Like he never fails to remind us, Diaz was not amused and he reacted like a shark to a carcass; he let fly a right hand that dropped Riggs (who still had his IV drip attached to his hand) to one knee.

This is where we hit a fork in the road. Fox Sports got both sides of the story from either fighter and they go something like this – Riggs (his iteration) sprung up after the punch and cinched Diaz in a front facelock. He then backed Diaz into a room and started kneeing him in the face, blood pouring out of his hand where the drip had been ripped off. He yelled at silent witness Nate Diaz, to restrain Nick, but the younger Diaz didn’t budge. The fracas drew a guard, who pulled them apart.

In Diaz’s Straight Outta Stockton version, Riggs tried to take him down, but he snapped double underhooks and tried wrangling him out of the hospital. Both eventually found their way to an office, where Diaz was hammering away at Riggs’ head before said security guard ended the brawl. Oh, this edition also had Nate watching while wishing for a tub of popcorn. So that makes two ticks under the “spot the similarities” column.

So, who do you think had a nose like a snooker stick after this?