Nate Diaz and Jorge Masvidal are in Anaheim, Calif., to hype up their upcoming boxing match, which takes place July 6. MMA Fighting has live video of Thursday’s press conference, which can be watched above.
This is the second fight between the MMA stars, with their first bout taking place in the UFC octagon back in November 2019. In the main event of UFC 244, Masvidal defeated Diaz via doctor stoppage in the third round to become the inaugural “BMF” champion.
Since that bout, both men have continued to book high-profile fights. Masvidal twice challenged for the UFC welterweight title, losing on both occasions to champion Kamaru Usman. He then lost to Colby Covington and Gilbert Burns, following the latter loss with a retirement announcement in his hometown of Miami.
Diaz dropped a decision to future welterweight champion Leon Edwards, then bounced back with a submission of Tony Ferguson to close out his UFC contract. He went on to box Jake Paul in August 2023, losing a decision to “The Problem Child.”
When Diaz and Masvidal step to the podium Thursday, they’ll have plenty to say about their upcoming bout, so make sure to check out the press conference scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m. ET.
With UFC 302 officially in the rear-view mirror, all eyes are on UFC 303, which is scheduled to mark the UFC return of Conor McGregor against Michael Chandler in the June 29 main event. With the event’s press conference in Dublin getting postponed, along with rampant speculation as to why, are you concerned that the fight is in jeopardy?
On an all-new edition of Between the Links, the panel discusses the latest on the McGregor vs. Chandler story, the reports that have come out, and predict whether or not the fight will happen as scheduled. Additionally, they’ll discuss the fallout of UFC 302, Islam Makhachev’s submission win over Dustin Poirier, the fighting future of Poirier, Sean Strickland’s win over Paulo Costa and if it was enough to get him a title shot, Dana White sparking a pound-for-pound debate between Makhachev and Jon Jones, UFC Louisville this Saturday, and much more.
Host Mike Heck moderates the matchup between MMA Fighting’s Jed Meshew and José Youngs.
Watch the show live at 12:30 p.m. ET / 9:30 a.m. PT in the video above.
If you missed the show live, you can still watch above, or listen to the podcast version, which can be found below and on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your pods.
Gaethje is a big fan of Strickland’s unorthodox style and how he deployed it at UFC 302 to beat Paulo Costa.
Sean Strickland has taken a lot of criticism for the slow and patient way he beat Paulo Costa at UFC 302, walking down the Brazilian powerhouse and picking him apart for a split decision win. But there’s one man who loved what he saw from “Tarzan” on Saturday night: the BMF himself, Justin Gaethje.
Can we still call Gaethje the BMF even though he lost the BMF title to Max Holloway at UFC 300? It feels like once a BMF, always a BMF. Strickland agrees with that.
“Oh, f—ing Gaethje, bro. My man!” Strickland said backstage at UFC 302 as the two met. “The BMF. I gotta start fighting like you.”
“You are!” Gaethje replied. “You already do [fight like me] … Run towards motherf—ers!”
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Even Strickland was critical of how his fight went, but blamed the lack of excitement on Costa for moving backwards endlessly. But that’s exactly what his style of fighting forces opponents to do, and that’s why “The Highlight” approves.
“I love it!” Gaethje said when asked about Sean’s performance. “Incredibly awkward and people can’t figure it out. Pushes you back the whole time, that s— is exhausting.”
Justin Gaethje walked into UFC 300 the de facto No. 1 contender for the lightweight title, but now it’s unclear where he stands after losing a barnburner of a fight to Max Holloway. He came into the UFC a bit too wild, and attributes his current position at top of the division to Trevor Wittman for reeling him in a bit and making him more patient and technical.
No wonder he enjoyed Strickland’s methodical and unflappable performance at UFC 302. It may not have been the most exciting thing in the world, but it worked and Strickland stuck with it. A little more of that wouldn’t serve Gaethje poorly now that he’s at the level where the smallest mistake can cost you everything.
Arman Tsarukyan | Photo by Cooper Neill/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Arman Tsarukyan thinks he would’ve had an easy time with Islam Makhachev at UFC 302.
On Saturday, Makhachev successfully defended his UFC lightweight title with a fifth-round submission win over Dustin Poirier in the main event. Though Makhachev is the No. 1 Pound-for-Pound fighter in the world, his performance received some criticism from fans for the difficulty he had with Poirier, and Tsarukyan agrees it wasn’t the champ’s best night at the office.
“It wasn’t the best performance,” Tsarukyan said on The MMA Hour. “He got tired and he was slow. I feel like Islam doesn’t have very good conditioning. Or maybe he got sick or whatever. But I’m not judging him just because of this last fight. I’ve got to watch all his fights and take him serious. He’s [the] No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter. I’m just going to prepare [for] the best version of Islam Makhachev. I’m not going to underestimate him or just think, ‘Dustin can defend his wrestling, I’m going to defend as well.’ I’m going to do my work and I know what I’ve got to do.”
And apparently what he has to do is cardio.
As Tsarukyan continued talking about UFC 302, he noted that if he was the one fighting Makhachev instead of his American Top Team teammate, the outcome would have been different.
“It would be a very easy fight for me,” Tsarukyan said. “I could out-wrestle him that fight as well, because he got tired. When you’re tired, you can’t do shit. Even if you have the best skills in the world, if you’re tired, you’re done.
“All his five-round fights he got tired as well,” Tsarukyan added. “He got tired versus Volkanovski, he got tired versus Dustin. Hopefully that’s going to be my key to win this fight, because of my cardio.”
Tsarukyan may not get to test his theory next.
While the Georgia-born Armenian fighter is currently the top-ranked lightweight contender, Makhachev has his sights set on bigger game. Following his UFC 302 win, the champion called for his opportunity to move up and challenge for the welterweight title. And while Tsarukyan doesn’t actually begrudge Makhachev that, he also says it’s a bit premature.
“The 170 fight, it’s a more hyped fight. I understand,” Tsarukyan said. “This is a better fight. If the UFC offers him to fight 170, of course if I were him I would fight for the double belt. It’s history. He can make history. But I feel like he doesn’t deserve that yet. He’s got to beat a couple more fighters at 155 and then go to 170. But we’ll see.”
So far, it seems like Tsarukyan will get his wish. UFC CEO Dana White was non-committal about giving Makhachev a welterweight title shot, and even the champion agrees that if UFC wants to run the Tsarukyan rematch next, he’ll happily do so. According to Tsarukyan, there have already been rumors about a possible timeline: UFC’s annual trip to New York in November.
“He wants to fight in New York, Madison Square Garden,” Tsarukyan said. “That’s the best-case scenario for me. It’s one of the best places in the world for fighting. It’s a historic place, Madison Square Garden. A lot of guys have fought there, boxers, a lot of events have been there. I want to fight there once in my life.”
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