Nate Diaz recently revealed that he was offered a fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov but unfortunately for MMA fans, he turned it down. That would undoubtedly have been one of the most entertaining lightweight UFC fights of that era, at least in terms of the build-up to it. It also would have been interesting to see how a lethal guard like Diaz’s holds up against one of the best top-players in MMA history. Then from a striking perspective, Diaz was an excellent boxer during his prime and he could have put Nurmagomedov’s durability to the test while he was hunting for the takedown.
This isn’t the first time that the rumours of a fight between Diaz and Nurmagomedov have surfaced either, but Diaz shed a little more light on when it happened:
“‘He turned down a fight with me’. I was like, I didn’t even know who you were. They offered me a fight against Khabib (Nurmagomedov) when he was brand a** new. I fought for a title, and I fought hella people already and they offered me a fight with Khabib.”
Although he didn’t share the exact year that the offer was made, Dana White first revealed that he tried to make the fight in 2014 so it must have been at some point before then. Diaz actually gave a little more context to the fight offer that explained both why he turned it down, and roughly when it was:
“I was like f*** you. You’re going to make a name off me with some new guy? Give me somebody in the top f***ing five. I just fought the champion so now I’ve got to fight somebody way down the list?”
Diaz fought Benson Henderson for the lightweight title at the end of 2012, so this puts the fight offer down to some point in 2013. Nurmagomedov only moved to 3-0 in the UFC at the beginning of that year so in Diaz’s defense, taking on an undefeated wrestler at that point in his career makes no sense from his point of view. Now both men have since retired from professional MMA and although Diaz is still competing in boxing, Nurmagomedov has shown no interest in ever fighting again. Fans will have to settle for never seeing them cross paths in the octagon, or under any combat sports ruleset.
The full clip of Nate Diaz explaining why he turned down a fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov was uploaded to the official Twitter account of MMAUncensored:
