Nate Diaz set a UFC record for the most submission wins from bottom position by choking out Tony Ferguson in his final fight for the promotion.
Diaz, 37, submitted Ferguson with a guillotine choke in the fourth round of their fight at UFC 279. Two judges had Diaz winning every round before he finished the fight, whilst the other judge had it two rounds to one in favour of Ferguson. Diaz ended his 15-year stint with the UFC by picking up his first win in over three years, much to the joy of the Las Vegas crowd.
The fan favourite overtook light-heavyweight Paul Craig for the most submission wins from a bottom position with six. Most of Diaz's submission wins came early on in his UFC career, with the veteran stating there weren't many fighters as talented as him on the ground in his early UFC days.
Fresh off his season five win of The Ultimate Fighter in 2007, Diaz put together three wins off of his back in just over six months. Diaz hadn't submitted anyone from a bottom position heading into his fight with Ferguson in over a decade, last achieving the feat when he submitted Jim Miller with a guillotine choke in 2012. Since that fight, Diaz's only other submission win came against Conor McGregor on 11 days notice in 2016.
Diaz teased a move to boxing after his win over Ferguson whilst taking a dig at McGregor's loss to Floyd Mayweather, stating: “I want to get out of the UFC for a minute and show all these fighters how to take over and own up another sport how you’re supposed to do it because Conor McGregor didn’t know how to do it.
What were your thoughts on Nate Diaz's submission win against Tony Ferguson at UFC 279? Let us know in the comments section below
"None of these other fighters know how to do it. So I’m going to go out there and I’m going take over another profession and become the best at that. Show everybody I’m the best at that and then I’m going to be right the f*** back here to get a motherf****** UFC title. The best title in the world."
Diaz also refused to role out a UFC return in the future whilst thanking Dana White despite their rocky relationship. "All I know it’s been a love-hate relationship with me and the UFC the whole time I’ve been in this organisation but at the end of the day, I love the UFC,” he said. “Shout out to Dana White, Lorenzo Fertitta and Hunter Campbell for giving me the opportunities and the platform for the whole time, for everybody and for myself."
