Fans of the most famous brothers from Stockton will have to wait just a little bit longer to see either of them returning to combat sports, as Nate Diaz has reportedly suffered an injury in training. He was originally scheduled to make history opposite Leon Edwards as the pair were due to engage in the UFC’s first ever non-title and non-main event five round fight at UFC 262. Although the exact nature of the injury Nate Diaz is recovering from is still unknown as yet, although it does not appear to have been too serious, as the upcoming fight has only been delayed by a little under a month.
Now, the younger Diaz brother will make his return to professional MMA at UFC 263 instead, on June 12th. This means that by the time he sets foot in the cage, it will have been over eighteen months since he last competed and over five years since he last managed to put together a win-streak. This is in stark contrast to his opponent Edwards who last stepped into the cage just two months ago and despite the end result being a No Contest, he put on a dominating display against Belal Muhammad. Prior to that, Edwards had won eight straight fights in the same space of time that Diaz had managed a single victory.
While Edwards has certainly been more active and has managed to keep up a more impressive career record so far, Nate Diaz is notorious for his ability to win regardless of his underdog status. In the past, he managed to outwork Donald Cerrone to a Unanimous Decision victory while he was at the height of his powers, and of course his Submission victory over Conor McGregor was one of the biggest upsets in the sport at the time. Whether he’s able to throw a spanner in the works of Leon Edwards’ title aspirations remains to be seen however.
UFC 263 will be available to watch live on June 12th on UFC FightPass, click here to subscribe and watch.