Nate Diaz might be known as an MMA fighter but before he ever embarked upon that career he actually started out with just Jiu-Jitsu as a child. Diaz started training martial arts at just 11 years old and he first began his BJJ journey under the tutelage of Cesar Gracie. Although Diaz went on to work with a number of other elite coaches and training partners for different aspects of his MMA career, he has always represented Cesar Gracie Jiu-Jitsu. He received all his BJJ belts from Cesar and their relationship continues today, as Diaz received the third degree on his BJJ black belt from Cesar towards the end of 2021.
The foundations for that long-lasting relationship were built in those early days, when Diaz was given the opportunity to do something better with his life through Jiu-Jitsu. Through Jiu-Jitsu, Nate Diaz has achieved things that many people in his position as a child would never have thought possible. It’s Jiu-Jitsu that led to him embarking on a professional MMA career, and his first unofficial bare-knuckle fight was as a teenager just a few years after he began training. There was almost no stopping Diaz’s rise to the top from that point onward, as he turned professional two years later and went on to win The Ultimate Fighter 5 in 2007.
He stayed true to his roots back then and even competed against elite grapplers in the gi while pursuing his MMA career. That couldn’t continue forever of course and he did eventually focus on making it to the top of the UFC, where he fought for over 15 years. It was a remarkable career that saw him leave with a solid 21-13 record and wins over some of the biggest names in the sport. All of that began with him stepping in to a Jiu-Jitsu academy for the very first time, and Diaz has been clear about what the sport meant to him back then:
“For me, it gave me a lot of direction. I was in there every night. I felt good after training and then I had a tournament set up. It gave me something to do and kept me busy, and the competition level kicked up all the time. It took over my life so it was definitely, definitely positive.”
The Guardian gym project shared the interview with Nate Diaz where he explains the impact that Jiu-Jitsu had on his life as a child in a post to their official Instagram account:
