UFC 279: Nate Diaz reveals how close he came to signing new contract

Nate Diaz has revealed how close he was to re-signing with the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

In what is easily one of the worst-kept secrets in mixed martial arts today, Nate Diaz looks set to ride off into the sunset this weekend at UFC 279.

After months of speculation, he’s expected to take part in the final fight on his current UFC contract before moving on to pastures new. In the main event of the evening, he’ll battle rising star Khamzat Chimaev with the aim of upsetting the Chechen sensation and causing one of the biggest shocks in UFC history.

Of course, the promotion would’ve worked hard to hash out a new deal with Diaz before all of this went down, with Nate himself revealing in a recent interview that the UFC refused to give up on the chase.

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“One time, I said alright look, if I’m going to re-sign because you are so aggressive, adamant and are so adamant about it and kept coming back to me, and every time I said no they kept coming back with more and more and more. We are like these guys aren’t taking no for an answer and they are like this guy isn’t taking yes for an answer,” Diaz said. “I was like ‘alright, you want me in, then me and my 10 guys are all coming.

“I need contracts for all my 10 guys.’ After I said it and the deal was getting worked on, I was like ‘f***, they are going to sign all my friends and I’m going to have to fight here.’ Then they started coming back ‘with this guy could go do the Ultimate [Fighter], and this guy can do,’ and I was like ‘everyone is in or I’m out.’”

It was announced earlier this week that Diaz is planning on getting his promoter’s license in order to kickstart his new promotion Real Fight, Inc.

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