Nate Diaz, a UFC fighter who enjoyed 21 wins and 13 losses across his MMA career, is a man with a number of qualities within the Octagon. But a seriously underrated manoeuvre that the American holds in his locker is his ability to make people flinch.
Last Saturday, the American was at Amalie Arena in Tampa for the fight between YouTuber Jake Paul and Tyron Woodley, and as always when Diaz is around, there’s always a story to tell.
Diaz engaged in a little stare-off between himself and a member of the crowd, in which the 36-year-old felt the need to step forward aggressively, making the fan flinch so hard in such fear, he spilt all the beer he had just bought.
This isn’t the first time Diaz has made someone flinch in such a manner.
The crowd member will be glad to know, being made to flinch by Nate Diaz is something that happens to the toughest of us. Just ask former UFC champion Conor McGregor.
Back in 2016, ahead of the Irishman’s battle with Diaz at UFC 196, McGregor flinched when the two stared one another down during the weigh-in, which was to the humour of the crowd.
It was that particular fight where McGregor suffered just his third professional defeat, although he did go on to beat Diaz later on in the same year.
Whether the flinch in the face-off was a turning point for the worse in the former champion’s career, we don’t know, but after UFC 196, McGregor went on to lose three of his next six fights, tapping to Khabib Nurmagomedov and then suffering back-to-back defeats to American Dustin Poirier.
In McGregor’s first loss to Poirier, the 33-year-old lost by knockout, with his second and latest defeat being stopped by UFC doctors.
It’s unknown if the man known as ‘The Notorious’ will ever step foot in the Octagon again, but one thing for sure is McGregor has been humbled in recent times.