VIDEO | This Nate Diaz ‘Gangsta’s paradise’ highlight is simply great

https://youtu.be/OSODYU9dunM

Nate Diaz’s rise to superstardom has been an amazing thing to witness.

From making his way through “The Ultimate Fighter” season five and eventually winning the finals against Manny Gamburyan in 2007 to his multi-million dollar payday at UFC 202 against Conor McGregor, Nate Diaz has come a long way in his professional mixed martial arts career.

“I’m not one of those guys who sat around here f*cking taking contracts,” Diaz said in UFC 202 conference call leading up to his rematch with McGregor (Transcribed by MMA Fighting). “I’ve been bitching about my contract for the last six years. I’ve been going through hell, so I knew I was going to get mine. When it was time to get mine, I was going to get what I was going to get regardless, and I had a plan to do it. It’s not thanks to Conor that I got all of this, but I’m going to say that was a shortcut.”

Diaz said everything worked according to his plan to get his initial fight with McGregor to get paid what he always felt he was worth.

“If I was stupid, I wouldn’t have got to where I’m at,” Diaz said. “I did what I had to do. I got that fight with Johnson, I plotted him out and I got sh*t done. And then I plotted back and got this on a 10-day notice and it worked out still, regardless. I asked for the fight, I said I wanted the fight, I got the fight, so I’m going to take the fight.

“So it’s like, I feel I’m in the position I’m in because I put myself in this position, and it’s not great, it’s not horrible, it’s f*cking what it is. So that’s been my take on the whole situation. I wasn’t following the leader on making some money here. I was going to get my money regardless, and I was going to get where I’m at regardless. But I will say that he was a shortcut.”

While things didn’t go in his favor in the rematch against “The Notorious,” Diaz still feels like he is 2-0 against the Irish champion and will be waiting around for their trilogy fight to take place unless older brother Nick has any different plans.

“Nick is my fearless leader, so I do whatever Nick tells me to do,” Nate told Chael Sonnen on his “You’re Welcome” podcast following after UFC 202 (transcribed by FloCombat). “But yeah, I don’t know what’s going on with him right now. I don’t know what Nick is doing. I’m just going to enjoy the rest of the summer. Nick is the leader, so if he told me to fight Joe Blowoff, then I’d fight him. I’m a soldier. I’m a soldier, man, and that’s the general.”