Triple Take: What to make of Nate Diaz’s farewell UFC fight against Khamzat Chimaev

Nate Diaz’s last fight on his UFC contract is going to be huge – and also extremely difficult.

Diaz, the former UFC title challenger and one of the biggest stars in MMA, has been booked to fight unbeaten sensation Khamzat Chimaev in a five-round welterweight bout to headline UFC 279 on Sept. 10 in Las Vegas.

It’s a fight that’s triggered a massive reaction from fighters and fans across social media.

In this latest edition of Triple Take, MMA Junkie’s Danny Segura, Matt Wells and Simon Samano share their thoughts this being Diaz’s swan song and whether it was the fight to make.

Danny Segura: 'Not a fan of this fight'

Well, I’m not surprised, motherf*ckers.

We all knew the UFC was trying to make Khamzat Chimaev vs. Nate Diaz happen at all costs. And we also knew the UFC was likely going to get their way, as usual, given the lack of leverage fighters have in controlling their careers with the company.

I’ll just lay out my cards immediately: I’m not a fan of this fight.

Sure, it’s a huge fight, arguably the biggest fight for Diaz outside of McGregor. And I won’t deny the build will be full of interesting banter and sound bytes from both fighters. But outside of that, these two have no business being in the same octagon.

UFC president Dana White is right that Diaz “has only won one fight in the last five years,” and meanwhile Chimaev is an unbeaten, legit title contender, who’s part of the elite club at welterweight and probably middleweight, too. This is a big mismatch.

I love Diaz and what he’s done for MMA. I don’t think he’s finished, and I still see big fights for him on the horizon, but Chimaev was not on my list. The Chechen monster is on a completely different trajectory. Diaz is on the money fight track, while Chimaev is in the fast lane to a UFC championship belt. This fight against Diaz is a detour from his path to UFC champion Kamaru Usman – which is what we ultimately want to see.

Apart from the competition aspect, it’s not like Chimaev needs the Diaz rub. He’s already big star and growing. Also, Diaz is a living legend of the sport. He’s brought millions of dollars and fans to the UFC and has left a giant mark in the sport. Fighters of this stature deserve better exits from the premier company in the world. They deserve fights that may not promise a win, but at the very least promise to bring out the best in them. I don’t think the Chimaev fight does that.

Think about it: This might be Diaz’s last UFC fight ever. That’s a moment in history.

Matthew Wells: A 'nonsensical matchup' – but also worth it?

Nate Diaz is experiencing the gift and the curse of being a marketable fighter.

The UFC knows what they have in Diaz’s drawing power, despite his sub-.500 record since earning a title shot in 2012. He’s in a select group, among the likes of Anderson Silva and Conor McGregor, who can draw a crowd, regardless of recent results. These are also fighters with varying levels of gas left in the tank, but most will agree they’re beyond their peaks.

The UFC knows this is the case with Diaz, but here we are with one of Stockton’s finest headlining a pay-per-view event in a non-title bout on the heels of back-to-back losses against one of the scariest undefeated rising stars in Khamzat Chimaev.

How does this happen? Donald Cerrone was matched up against peers such as Joe Lauzon and Jim Miller at the tail end of his career. Why is Diaz being treated differently?

For one, he literally asked for this. When you’re on the last fight of your deal with a promotion that still wants to hang on to you, and you no longer want to be in business with them, be mindful of your wishes.

Now the promotion appears to be using Diaz’s name as a launchpad for Chimaev. The problem? Chimaev is already in orbit, and the betting lines are appropriately astronomical.

Three weeks prior to UFC 279, Kamaru Usman will defend his welterweight title against Leon Edwards at UFC 278. Should Chimaev take care of business against Diaz, it’s a safe assumption that he will be the No. 1 contender. All Chimaev has to do is show up, “smesh” and call out the champ. For the UFC, they get to promote a real threat to the welterweight title while completing the contract of a disgruntled veteran.

But what if these best-laid plans go awry?

What if UFC 196 Diaz shows up, rocks, and then submits Chimaev? Just imagine a scenario in which Diaz becomes the first to defeat Chimaev but still doesn’t want to re-sign with the UFC, walking away from a title shot in the process.

In all reality, we’re likely heading toward an ugly exit for Diaz, but the intrigue of absolute chaos almost makes this nonsensical matchup worth it.

Simon Samano: 'Leaves a bad taste,' but imagine if he wins

“I mean, I like Nate. Let’s be honest, Nate’s won one fight in the last five or six years. You know? When these guys get into these positions, you’ve got guys that have been with us for a long time, that we respect, that we care about. You know, you’ve got Cerrones and Anthony Pettis before he left, and you’ve got Nate Diaz, and Nick Diaz is still under contract with us. So you want to be fair to everybody, you want to do the right things or whatever. Nate Diaz isn’t going to come in and fight Kamaru Usman.

“So listen, we’re trying to do the best we can. We’re trying not to sh*t on anybody and disrespect anybody, but it’s not like we’re talking about Kamaru Usman here. We’re talking about Nate Diaz. Nate’s won one fight in five years, so we’re trying to figure this thing out with him. He probably should go on and fight Jake Paul. That’s a fight that makes sense.”

Those were the words of UFC President Dana White in an interview with The Mac Life on June 22 (bolded parts by me) and let me just say this: If you’re pointing out that Nate Diaz has just one win since 2016, if you really wanted to be fair and do the right thing, if you really weren’t trying to “sh*t” on Diaz or disrespect him, then how does it make any sense for undefeated No. 3-ranked Khamzat Chimaev to be his final UFC fight?

The short answer? It doesn’t.

But this is the UFC, and the UFC usually gets what it wants, and feeding Diaz to Chimaev (so to speak) to help build a new star (not like Chimaev needs the push) is it. The catch, apparently, is that Diaz has been asking for this fight since April, according to his representative, Zach Rosenfield. You have to wonder why after he turned down the matchup and publicly scoffed at the idea last year. What changed for Diaz? Probably a realization that he didn’t have much say in the matter if wants to be free of the UFC, which he’s made crystal clear that he does.

The way this played out leaves a bad taste, because a guy who’s given 15 years and 26 fights to the company – and is still one of the biggest UFC stars – deserves to go out on his terms

That being said, Diaz has been in this situation before – March 2016, UFC 196, against Conor McGregor, the UFC’s golden goose. Diaz wasn’t supposed to win, but the fight ended in stunning fashion with him choking out McGregor to bring the hype train to a screeching halt.

What if history repeats itself? Only this time with Diaz flipping the bird as he walks out the door.

That would be straight gangster.

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