Last weekend (April 20. 2013), Nate Diaz was stopped for the first time in his Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) career (watch it here) by Josh Thomson at UFC on Fox 7, which went down from HP Pavilion in San Jose, California.
"The Punk" was able to clip the younger Diaz brother with a perfectly placed head kick, sending him crashing to the canvas and in serious distress. Thomson proceeded to follow up with some vicious ground-and-pound that forced the referee to stop the assault, as well as compelled his older brother, Nick Diaz, to throw in the white towel from his corner to signal surrender.
It was, seemingly, a justified stoppage that was further validated with his corner team's rare towel toss.
The win signaled a successful return to the Octagon for Thomson after nearly a decade-long absence, while the devastating loss for Diaz left him in limbo, pondering whether to stay at 155 pounds or go back up to compete in the Welterweight division. Diaz even suggested that UFC institute other weight classes in which he, and other weight class 'tweeners can compete.
Both propositions seemed off, especially considering Diaz was ragdolled at 170 pounds by Rory MacDonald in his last attempt and that he is now just two fights removed from challenging for the Lightweight title.
However, his comments earlier today that described Thomson as "scared shitless" and making "bitch ass lady sounds" during their fight, which he thinks was stopped too early, make Diaz sound as if he has completely left the reservation.
His words (via BJPenn.com):
"Not really (surprised him with anything). I went in there, I don't really want to credit him too much for that fight, you know? I don't think that he should get too much. I think it was more a negative on my part than a positive on his part. I think he might have just capitalized a little bit. I think, I know it's because I fought and everything, but I think the stop was premature, but, I didn't want to cause a scene at the time. I didn't know how it went or how it looked. I was in there fighting and the guy jumped in stopped the fight and I was like, ‘what the fuck is going on here? Why are you stopping the fight?' I didn't think I was damaged anymore better or worse off than I had been in my prior fights. I thought I was good to go, but I didn't want to make a scene. Maybe I got caught with some combos and it looked worse. I think it looked worse than what was really going on in there."
He continued:
"He didn't come in there and put no ass whopping on me. You know what I'm saying? He didn't come in there and make anything happen. I have never fought somebody before who had ever wanted out of a fight so bad. I expected a fight. I expected him to grab me and try to hold on to me or throw some kicks and move and throw some punches and move but that motherfucker was straight running and I had to chase his down. I was chasing him the whole fight. I was the aggressor. I was restless, you know? How can you not be when a guy is running scared shitless for his life? I'm over aggressive trying to get a hold of him and that's why I got hit, because I'm over aggressive. I'm trying to meet the criteria to win these rounds."
Diaz went on to explain that his corner threw in that towel because they are his "real people" who care about him and don't want to see him take any more punches to the head than necessary.
Still, Diaz says he doesn't "feel defeated," explaining "The Punk" got "lucky with some punches." But, at the end of the day, he doesn't want to come off as he's bashing Thomson and doesn't blame anyone for stopping the fight, especially the official on duty because he "was just doing his job."
The loss marked the second straight for Diaz, who came up short in his bid to dethrone current Lightweight champion Ben Henderson at UFC on Fox 5 in Dec. 2012.