Nate Diaz

He was reared in Stockton, California together with his brother Nick and sister Nina. Robert Diaz and Melissa (née Womble) Diaz were his parents. He went to Tokay High School and started learning martial arts with his brother Nick when he was 11 years old.

At the age of 19, Nate faced Alejandro Garcia in his professional MMA debut at World Extreme Cagefighting 12 – Halloween Fury 3. By submission in the third round, Diaz prevailed (Triangle Choke). Diaz capitalized on this momentum by winning three of his next four fights to earn a crack at the first WEC Lightweight Championship.

At Warrior Cup 1, Diaz competed against Dennis Davis for the first WEC Lightweight Championship. Diaz won the bout by keylock submission in the first round. Afterward, he was defeated by Hermer França in the second round of WEC 24 to lose the championship on his initial defense (armbar). Nate joined the UFC and competed in The Ultimate Fighter 5 after Zuffa LLC bought the WEC.

In The Ultimate Fighter 5, Nate Diaz joined the UFC as Team Pulver’s second choice. As he defeated Robert Emerson in the preliminary round with a rear-naked choke in the second round, Diaz outclassed everyone else on the show. Diaz then used a first-round triangle choke to beat Corey Hill in the quarterfinals.

To go to the final, Nate first defeated Gray Maynard in the semifinals via guillotine choke submission in the second round. Manny Gamburyan and Diaz squared off at the show’s conclusion. Due to Manny’s shoulder injury in the second round, Diaz won the bout via TKO. Nate was awarded a contract with the UFC as a result of winning Season 5 of The Ultimate Fighter.

Nate fought Junior Assuncao at UFC Fight Night 11: Thomas vs. Florian in his first UFC match following The Ultimate Fighter 5. By way of a first-round guillotine choke submission, Diaz claimed victory. In the wake of his first-round victory, Nate won three consecutive fights, including his main-event contest with Josh Neer, before falling to Clay Guida by a split decision at UFC 94.

After losing to Joe Stevenson in his subsequent fight, Diaz defeated Melvin Guillard in the main event of UFC Fight-Night 19 before dropping a tight decision to Gray Maynard in his subsequent contest. Diaz shifted to welterweight after this fight.

He won his next two fights against Rory Markham at Catchweight (177 pounds) and Marcus Davis after adjusting his weight. He fell short in his next two fights, though, against Rory MacDonald and Dong Hyun Kim. Following the MacDonald defeat, Diaz went back to lightweight.

When he returned to the lightweight division, he was successful and went on a 3-fight winning run before going on a 2-fight losing skid. He won against Gray Maynard to exact revenge for his defeat after that but ultimately fell to Rafael dos Anjos through Unanimous Decision. Nate overcame Michael Johnson by a unanimous vote to get back on the winning side of things.

In order to establish himself as a household name, Diaz fought Connor McGregor on short notice and submitted him in the second round. Diaz was defeated by Connor in their rematch by a narrow majority decision. After that, he took a three-year break before making a comeback at UFC 241 to take on Anthony Pettis and win by unanimous decision. Following his victory over Anthony, Diaz went on a losing skid of two matches, falling to Jorge Masvidal and Leon Edwards. In order to end his losing run, Diaz defeated Tony Ferguson through submission (guillotine choke).