Diaz Is Officially Free

Nate Diaz can now make his next move.

MMA Fighting confirmed today (Tues., Nov. 29, 2022) via Diaz’s representative, Zach Rosenfield, that the one-time Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Lightweight title challenger and winner of The Ultimate Fighter 5 (TUF) is now officially free from his UFC contract.

Diaz fought out his UFC deal this past Sept. 2022, snapping a two-fight skid with a fourth round guillotine submission win over Tony Ferguson at UFC 279 (watch highlights). Despite the bout being Diaz’s last contractual obligation, the Stockton, Calif. native had to undergo a three-month wait period before things were fully wrapped.

During that span, Bellator President, Scott Coker, made some noise for potentially breaching protocol and discussing possibilities with Diaz. That, however, was quickly called out before Coker re-evaluated his comments two weeks ago during Bellator 288 fight week in Chicago, Illinois.

“Nate was still under some type of obligation,” Coker said in a post-weigh-in media scrum (h/t Red Corner MMA). “So, until that obligation is done, I’m sure my guys are talking to them. Then we’re not gonna get involved. But if there are any free agents out there that are completely free, we’d love to talk to all of them. It doesn’t just have to be one fighter or another, we would like to talk to everybody that’s a free agent, but they have to be a free agent. We’re not going to interfere with peoples’ contracts.”

Diaz has a myriad of options in the mixed martial arts (MMA) space going forward, including running his own promotion: Real Fight Inc. Additionally, boxing has been the biggest assumption throughout the combat sports community. As recently as the past month, Diaz continued adding fuel to the fire for a possible Jake Paul encounter, causing some trouble backstage.