Nate Diaz slapped a reporter at Saturday night's UFC events after he allegedly posted tweets about the welterweight.
Diaz was in Las Vegas to watch on as Israel Adesanya defeated Jared Cannonier in the main event of UFC 267 at the T-Mobile Arena. After the show, he was approached backstage by reporter Shawny Mack, who was on his first assignment for the new media outlet Full Send MMA, which is owned by YouTube stars the Nelk boys.
And despite seemingly being interested in chatting with the reporter before posing for photos, he seemed annoyed at his attitude and whispered a message about tweets he had supposedly posted. Mack attempted to laugh off the exchange, before Diaz smacked the microphone out of his hand and ultimately struck him in the face.
Mack doesn't appear to have an active Twitter account, and it remains to be seen what tweets Diaz was referring to in the incident. The reporter had asked jokingly if Diaz was there to watch undercard fighter Sean O'Malley, who is a close friend of the Full Send brand and an ambassador for their Happy Dad hard seltzer.
Diaz is currently training for a return to the octagon as he looks to finally fight out his UFC contract and get a chance to test free agency. The promotion are keen for him to fight Khamzat Chimaev, but also want his next fight to correlate with re-signing for them.
He has been out of action for over a year after losing his last fight to Leon Edwards, and has won just once since his star-making victory over Conor McGregor six-and-a-half years ago. But he remains one of the most recognisable stars in the sport, and will have mega money offers available should he leave the promotion.
Plans had been in place for Diaz to move into boxing this summer against Jake Paul, back when he had a fight lined up with Vicente Luque for early this year. But the bout fell through, and he has been stuck in negotiations with the promotion ever since.
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Top welterweight Kevin Holland has called out Diaz lately, tweeting: "I’ll take anyone. He’ll take anyone. @NateDiaz209 let’s do this for everyone! @danawhite I think this moves the needle! I want all the smoke both inside and outside the cage."
But that fight is also looking unlikely, despite the Stockton, California native seemingly being keen to get a fight. He has teased a fight with Paul in the past, but would need to be out of his contract for such an event to take place.
The YouTuber offered to go into the octagon to face Diaz, on the condition that promotional boss Dana White accept his terms for increased fighter pay. However, that deal has gone without a respond.
