Nate Diaz reveals why he does triathlons in between fights

Nate Diaz will make a return to the octagon when he faces Leon Edwards in a five-round welterweight bout at UFC 263. The bout will also be the first non-title non-main event five-round fight in UFC history.

Ahead of his upcoming bout against Edwards, Nate Diaz uploaded a video to his own YouTube channel where the Stockton brawler could be seen competing in a triathlon. Diaz recently weighed in on the subject in an interview with Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports.

According to Nate Diaz, he was accustomed to the mental toughness that a triathlon demands. He also stated that it is the versatility of the sport that attracted him the most. Diaz compared the triathlete to a mixed martial artist on the grounds that they must both carefully hone all aspects of their game as lagging behind in any one aspect could prove fatal in both sports. Nate Diaz told Kevin Iole:

"Yeah, I kind of know how to get through all that anyway from all the years that I have spent just like with the fights. What I like about it is that it's different....it's like mixed martial arts. You gotta prep for each one and be good at each individual sport. You can be the best swimmer and the biker but if you run like sh*t, everyone's gonna catch you in the end. Like that in mixed martial arts you gotta put in the right ingredients, the kickboxing, the boxing the wrestling. So you gotta have all your sh*t together, that's also another piece of the art. And racing...you know what I'm saying, you gotta cover all the things....And when you get everything about right, it gets my sh*t together."

Nate Diaz's history with triathlons

Nate Diaz has been competing in triathlons since the age of 18 which might have played a big role in developing Diaz's endless supply of cardio. In preparation for his bout against Conor McGregor at UFC 196, Nate Diaz trained with Damian Gonzalez, a pro triathlete who has been a part of Team Diaz for years.