Jorge Masvidal believes Nate Diaz made the right choice leaving the UFC behind.
Masvidal and Diaz are tied together as they battled it out in the main event of UFC 244 in November 2019 for the “BMF” title, a fight that Masvidal won via doctor’s stoppage TKO in the third round.
Diaz submitted Tony Ferguson in the main event of UFC 279 in September, which was the final fight of his UFC contract. In Masvidal’s eyes, the timing couldn’t have been better for his promotional exit.
“That’s good for him to leave the big leagues before he gets serious brain damage,” Masvidal recently told MMA Fighting following his promotion’s iKON FC 5 event. “I think the guy’s a borderline vegetable. His interviews, his spunkness, his wittiness and sharpness has gone to s***. You have to wait for him, the pauses have gotten longer.
“You used to ask him a question, it used to be like a two-second pause — now it’s like a 30-second pause.”
Diaz was 4-3 in his final seven octagon appearances, which included his two memorable fights with Conor McGregor. The Stockton native has kicked off his own promotion Real Fight Inc., which he has big plans for in the future.
There’s a lot of options in front of Diaz, including a potential lucrative boxing match against Jake Paul following the undefeated boxer’s Oct. 29 battle with former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva.
As far as Masvidal goes, he’s glad Diaz won’t be taking any more punches inside of the octagon, but he’s still not a big fan.
“It’s good for him, man. He shouldn’t be in the big leagues, he’s going to get hurt, man,” Masvidal said. “Take that old ass dude somewhere else.
“Plus, I almost killed his ass until the referee saved him. I don’t really like him too much.”