LAS VEGAS – It was two hours and 14 minutes past his scheduled news conference start time Wednesday when Nate Diaz finally strolled into the room of reporters eagerly awaiting to hear from the most popular fighter on the card.
Of course, he wasn’t alone. Over a dozen other members of the Nick Diaz Army accompanied him. The mini-mob decked out in Represent Ltd. attire slowly dispersed in between the void spaces left by reporters at UFC 279 media day.
As he took to his designated table, Diaz in a plain black t-shirt, backward hat, and wearing a big chain pumped some music into the microphone as he sat down. He smiled, always polite despite not being the biggest fan of media activities.
Eventually, he stopped the music, took a look at the UFC-sponsored drink sitting in front of him, and chucked it under the table. The big bucks sponsor beverage was replaced by a large bottle of water, which Diaz sipped on in between each question as he shifted somewhat uncomfortably in his chair.
One hundred thirty-four minutes of anticipation was followed by eight minutes of question-answering from Diaz. Upon the first lull in questioning, Diaz called an end to the session on his own.
“Man, you’ve got to step it up. It’s time,” Diaz said politely, as he utilized the break in the action as an escape route. “Good to see you guys. Thank you very much. All right.”
Within the brief line of questioning Diaz answered, however, he captivated the room as always. When he was inevitably asked about his future beyond Saturday’s UFC 279, the highly-anticipated final fight on his promotional deal, Diaz hasn’t indicated what lies beyond his main event matchup with Khamzat Chimaev – and that didn’t exactly change Wednesday.
Still very unspecific and unrevealing of details of life after free agency, Diaz reiterated one thing over and over: something big is on the way – whether it’s in the UFC or outside of it.
“I feel like the UFC, it’s kind of limited for me,” Diaz said. “I wanted to reach for higher goals, higher objectives and do bigger stuff than this. Under the UFC umbrella, like I said, you’re limited. You can only go so far. Like I said, it’s only the halftime show. It’s time to blow past everybody here and the organization, even if it involves me staying in or getting out. I’m going to do something bigger than I’ve ever done as soon as this is done. (It’ll be) bigger than this, bigger than whatever happened in the past, also.”
Whenever possibilities of fights outside the UFC are mentioned nowadays, Jake Paul’s name usually follows, as was the case Wednesday. Again, Diaz didn’t show his hand.
“I think I’ve heard a lot about a lot of stuff,” Diaz said. “Whatever comes after this, like I said, is going to be anything bigger than I’ve ever done.”
Diaz has not ruled out a return to the UFC, either immediately or in the more distant future, despite his publicized contract issues with the promotion.
When asked what change could be made in the UFC that would be most important to him, Diaz answered in classic Diaz fashion.
“I’d own it,” Diaz said.
UFC 279 takes place Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPNEWS and early prelims on ESPN+.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 279.
