5 things you probably didn't know about Nate Diaz

Nate Diaz to the fans: "I ain't surprised mother fuc***."Nate Diaz officially broke the Internet by derailing the hype train of Conor McGregor at UFC 196. The pay-per-view, for which a major portion of the fans expected to be just another cake walk for Conor, turned out to be a major headache for Dana White. Conor’s loss is expected to burn a big hole in the pocket of Dana White, but at the same time, he has a new hero in town, Nate Diaz.The American, who was relatively on the backburner before stepping up to face McGregor, is a hot topic in MMA circles after the stunning victory. With that said, here are some of the things that you should know about the Stockton native.

#5 MMA above gangs

He was brought up in a volatile situation

Nate was born and brought up in Stockton, California. According to Nate’s mother, Melisa Diaz, the city was constantly struggling due to gang violence. She did not want Nate to be involved into such problems and decided to move to Calif, which was a suburb in Stockton.

“I wanted to keep them out there so they couldn’t get in trouble,” Melissa once said.

Once they moved, Nate’s elder brother, Nick found his love in MMA as a teen. He started training and he managed to arouse a curiosity in his brother as well. This made the brothers start their training at a tender age of 14.

#4 His brother is also a fighter

his brother is also a fighter

While most know about the Diaz brothers, there are a few who may be oblivious to the fact. Nate is currently enjoying the limelight after his win over Conor McGregor, but his celebrations will not be complete without mentioning his brother, Nick Diaz.

As mentioned in the last slide, it was Nick that lured Nate into MMA. Nick is also an established MMA fighter and is currently signed with UFC, though he’s serving a suspension for testing positive for marijuana. He has an MMA record of 26 wins and 9 losses and is also a former Strikeforce Welterweight Champion and WEC Welterweight Champion.

Nick’s career has not always been on the good side as he was suspended three times by UFC over marijuana use. Nate, who is yet to get suspended for such reasons, defended his brother by saying “It’s from the earth. You plant it. You smoke it.”

#3 His connection with Batista

Batista and Nate trained under the same coach

Nate Diaz is a first-degree black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He was trained by Cesar Garcia, who happened to be the same coach that trained WWE superstar and current Hollywood star Batista.

The training facility of Cesar Garcia is situated at the Pleasant hill in California and is known for some notable names.

The most notable ones from the lot would perhaps be the Diaz brothers, Batista, Gil Castillo, and David Terrell. While Nate went on to become a black belt under Cesar, Batista is a purple belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. This connection that Nate had with Batista would’ve been hidden for the longer run, but his win against McGregor has brought the spotlight on Diaz.

That is the beauty of MMA, all it takes is one win.

#2 Winner of The Ultimate fighter

Nate Diaz won the Ultimate Fighter 5

The Ultimate fighter 5 was a reality television series of the Ultimate Fighting championship. The show aimed at bringing out the next break-out athlete from sixteen prospects. Nate was one of the participants and he showed his brilliance in the first round itself.

Nate defeated Corey Hill in the first round before moving on to defeat Rob Emerson in the Quarterfinals.

A win over Gray Maynard followed in the semi-finals and in the finals, Nate was pitted up against Manvel Gamburyan. Nate came from behind in the final and defeated his opponent via submission to became the winner of The Ultimate Fighter 5.

#1 He does not like CM Punk

CM Punk’s debut is one of the things that UFC and WWE fans are looking forward with excitement.

Ever since he left WWE and announced his intentions to be part of UFC, CM Punk has been making headlines for one reason or the other. While the fans are eager to see how Punk would fare in the Octagon, Nate thinks that CM Punk is a disgrace to the UFC.

Nate is not hesitant to spew out some profanity and he did not hold back when asked about Punk. With Punk set to make his debut in UFC soon, it would be interesting to see whether he would shatter the claims of Diaz or wither away into oblivion.