Nate Diaz

Nate Diaz was involved in an altercation with Dillon Danis outside Madison Square Garden at UFC 281 on Saturday night.

Multiple videos showed Diaz slapping someone on the street in New York City:

UFC President Dana White was unsurprised by the skirmish when told of the situation.

"Every time they show up, I expect something to happen," White said of Diaz and his team, per MMA Fighting. "Not much bothers me at this point."

Diaz is no stranger to altercations outside of the Octagon. He previously had skirmishes with Conor McGregor and Khamzat Chimaev, and last month he was forced to leave the Anderson Silva bout against Jake Paul.

His UFC future is also in doubt after failing to sign a new contract before his last bout.

The 37-year-old defeated Tony Ferguson in September with a fourth-round submission, which was just his second fight since 2019.

Since his last high-profile bout against McGregor in 2016, Diaz has just two wins in four appearances.

The veteran is now making more headlines for his unsanctioned fighting than his actual bouts.

Hours after calling out the UFC legend, Jake Paul extended an olive branch to Nate Diaz.

Paul told Diaz on social media the door is open to join the MMA fighters' union he pledged to help launch with Anderson Silva:

Based on what unfolded Saturday night, Diaz may not be all that keen on the idea.

Videos of a shouting match between members of Diaz's and Paul's entourage inside Desert Diamond Arena surfaced online. Following his unanimous decision over Silva, Paul also called Diaz a "b---h" and challenged him to a fight (warning: video contains profanity):

Leading up to Saturday's event, Paul made a bet with Silva that the former UFC middleweight champion would have to get involved with the fighters' union if he lost. Maybe he can place the same wager with Diaz if the two put their differences aside and come to terms for an in-ring encounter.

Unless you're "The Most Electrifying Man in Sports Entertainment," don't approach Nate Diaz about a comeback fight.

Diaz, who just wrapped up his UFC contract, said Wednesday that he's "only going to fight the rock."

The 37-year-old submitted Tony Ferguson at UFC 279 on Sept. 10 in what could be his MMA swan song. He has already entertained a possible fight with Jake Paul, and speculation linking him with a move to WWE is already beginning.

As to Diaz's UFC future, his terms might be a tad unrealistic.

Dwayne Johnson was famously on hand at UFC 244 to award Jorge Masvidal the symbolic BMF title following his victory over Diaz in October 2019. That might be the last time you see The Rock stepping inside the Octagon.

Former UFC superstar Nate Diaz has a few options for his next move after becoming a free agent earlier this month, and it sounds like he already has something in mind.

Diaz told iD Boxing (h/t Amit Shukla of Thirsty For News) that he'd be interested in a boxing match against Jake Paul, who is scheduled to fight MMA legend Anderson Silva on Oct. 29:

"[Jake Paul] is for sure one of the options. He's doing big stuff. He's doing big things. He's got a big fight ahead of him. If he wins that, I'm sure people will be really impressed by it. And if Anderson [Silva] does his thing on him, that’s impressive also. Now we've got a fight on his hands. I'm looking forward to it."

Diaz is coming off a fourth-round submission victory over Tony Ferguson in the main event of UFC 279, which was the final fight on his contract. He has expressed his desire to explore his options outside of the company for quite some time:

"From 17 or 18 years old, I was starting to fight, I was boxing with my boxing coach. There were boxers all over my gym, and I was going to box initially, but MMA shows were more around my area, and they were happening, so I got stuck in MMA. I got stuck in a cage this whole time with contracts and stuff. Now everything is open for the taking. I never stopped training for a boxing fight since I started fighting. When the right opponent or right thing comes, we’re going to take it."

The 37-year-old also left the door open to returning to the UFC at some point in the future, but for now, it appears he's ready to test the waters in the world of boxing.

While the UFC did not discipline any of the fighters for the backstage altercations that led to the cancellation of Thursday's UFC 279 news conference, the Nevada Athletic Commission could do so depending on the outcome of its investigation.

"The Nevada Athletic Commission will strictly discipline all licensees for all incidents of physical violence between athletes outside the ring or cage, up to and including purse forfeiture, revocation or suspension of any current license, denial of applications for new applicants, or denying future license renewals," NSAC chairman Stephen J. Cloobeck said in a statement, per Marc Raimondi of ESPN.

Raimondi described the chaos, which he noted began with a "near brawl between UFC fighters Khamzat Chimaev and Kevin Holland."

Chimaev approached Holland, words were exchanged, Holland pushed him away, and Chimaev landed a front kick before UFC fighter Li Jingliang attempted to break them up. MMA agent Tiki Ghosn was among those helping to break up the fight, and Nate Diaz and his group threw water bottles at him when they assumed he was with Chimaev.

UFC President Dana White canceled the news conference and told reporters: "I'm in very weird waters. This has never happened in the history of this company."

That was just the beginning of the strange occurrences, as Chimaev missed weight by 7.5 pounds. That forced a reshuffling of the fight card with Diaz facing Tony Ferguson, Holland and Chimaev squaring off, and Li meeting Daniel Rodriguez.

Diaz-Ferguson was the headliner, and the former put on a show while clinching a fourth-round submission victory at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

It may have been the last fight of Diaz's UFC career. If so, he went out with a statement.

Khamzat Chimaev didn't come close to making weight for his originally scheduled fight against Nate Diaz, but he apparently wanted to go head-to-head anyway.

Chimaev told UFC interviewer Megan Olivi that he offered to give Diaz his purse to have the UFC 279 main event to go on as scheduled.

“I could make that weight, so the doctor stopped that s--t. So yeah, what I could do now? I was waiting what UFC said to me. I said I wanna fight, so I gave all my money to [Diaz]. It was almost two million. So I said, 'Give all my money to that guy, let him fight.' If he is that gangster, he should fight for money. But he didn’t wanna fight me, you know? So, who’s the gangster now?”

Chimaev weighed in Friday at 178.5 pounds, seven pounds over the limit for his bout against Diaz. The Russian's inability—or unwillingness—to cut weight sent UFC 279 into a state of chaos, with Dana White shuffling three matches on the card to make things work. Chimaev wound up fighting Kevin Holland, while Diaz took on Tony Ferguson.

“You care about that s--t? I don’t care,” Chimaev told reporters when asked about criticism over his weight. “I care about my family. I care about my career. I care about my money. … One day they’re with me, one day they’re not with me.

“So, I’m real, guys. So, I like the people that are real. Not fake people going one way or going the other way.”

Both Diaz and Chimaev were victorious in their make-up fights.

Nate Diaz is exiting the UFC, but not before taking home one last performance bonus.

The veteran fighter won the Performance of the Night bonus for his fourth-round submission of Tony Ferguson in the main event of Saturday night's UFC 279, per Alexander K. Lee of MMA Fighting. That earned him $50,000 in bonus money.

It was the 16th bonus Diaz has earned for his performance in the Octagon. Only Donald Cerrone and Charles Oliveira, with 18 each, have earned more.

It concluded a wild week after Diaz's original opponent, Khamzat Chimaev, missed weight by 7.5 pounds. That left the UFC scrambling to salvage the card, eventually pairing Diaz with Ferguson and Chimaev with Kevin Holland, who he submitted in the first round

As for Diaz's next steps, his team said this week he was starting his own MMA promotion, Real Fight Inc.

"I wanna get out of the UFC for a minute, and show all of these UFC fighters how to take over, and own up another sport how you're supposed to do it," Diaz said in his post-fight interview. "Because Conor McGregor didn't know how to do it, and none of these other fighters know how to do it. So I'm gonna go out there, take over another profession and become the best at that, show everybody I'm the best at that. And then I'm gonna be right the f--k back here to get a motherf--king UFC title, the best title in the world."

The 37-year-old Diaz is one of the UFC's most popular fighters and has beaten some of the promotion's biggest names, including Donald Cerrone, McGregor—they split their two meetings—and Anthony Pettis. He also went into the Octagon against big names like Jorge Masvidal and Leon Edwards, though he lost those matchups.

As for UFC fighters who took their talents elsewhere, McGregor flirted with boxing, losing to Floyd Mayweather, while Brock Lesnar had his on-again, off-again relationship with the WWE. It remains to be seen what Diaz's next chapter holds, but his time in the UFC may not be completely over just yet.

Nate Diaz said after Saturday's win over Tony Ferguson he wants to conquer another sport before returning to UFC, via ESPN's Ariel Helwani.

The 37-year-old explained his plans to Joe Rogan in the post-fight interview, via Damon Martin of MMA Fighting:

I want to get out of the UFC for a minute and show all these UFC fighters how to take over and own up another sport how you're supposed to do it. Cause Conor McGregor didn't know how to do it. None of these other fighters know how to do it. So I'm going to go out there and I'm going take over another profession and become the best at that.

The win at UFC 279 was the first for Diaz since 2019, having lost to Jorge Masvidal and Leon Edwards in this span.

Diaz was initially supposed to face Khamzat Chimaev on Saturday, but the opponent missed weight and UFC was forced to reshuffle the card. The original match was considered "punishment" by Diaz, who admitted he didn't want the bout, via ESPN's Marc Raimondi.

"I've gotta just go in there and fight him for you real quick," Diaz said. "I'm unmotivated for that."

The veteran can now be released from his contract, providing a chance to potentially move into boxing.

Jake Paul indicated Diaz could be his next opponent in a tweet after Saturday's fight:

Paul is set to fight former MMA star Anderson Silva after already beating Tyron Woodley and Ben Askren.

Conor McGregor also attempted a transition to boxing but lost to Floyd Mayweather.

Diaz believes he can do better than the others in a new sport.