UFC president Dana White has left the door open for a Nate Diaz return.
The Stockton fan favourite officially became a free agent on Saturday after submitting Tony Ferguson in the last fight of his existing deal.
Diaz, 37, hasn't always seen eye to eye with White, 53, with the pair sharing an uneasy relationship at times over the years.
But the two parties seem to be on good terms, with White leaving the door for a potential return in the future despite a move to boxing believed to be imminent.
Dana White leaves door open for Nate Diaz to return to the UFC
“No matter what Nate does from here on out, this is his house," White said at his post-fight press conference.
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"He’s been here forever. It’s been a blast having him here. I wish him well.
UFC 279: Nate Diaz vs Tony Ferguson was the main event
“He and I had this discussion months ago at the offices. Whatever he moves on to do, I wish him nothing but the best. If he’s starting his own organization or getting into promoting or doing something else, I wish him nothing but the best of luck.
"It’s been awesome having him here.”
Nate Diaz teases switch to boxing
In his post-fight interview, Diaz confirmed he wants to have a go at boxing with reports linking him to an appearance against Jake Paul.
He said: “It’s been a love-hate relationship but at the end of the day I love the UFC.
UFC 279: Nate Diaz exits the octagon after competing in the main event against Tony Ferguson
"Shoutout to Dana White, Lorenzo Fertita and Hunter Campbell for giving the opportunities and the platform the whole time for everybody and for myself.
“I feel like I’ve had the longest career in the UFC and I’ve had the most successful one out of everybody. I outdid everybody on pay. I outdid everybody on surviving.
“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 because Conor McGregor didn’t know how to do it and none of these other fighters know how to do it.
Dana White heaps praise on Nate Diaz and Tony Ferguson
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As far as the main event itself, White was left impressed with the display from both fighters and claimed it was almost exactly how he expected things to play out, with both men bringing the best out of each other before Diaz eventually wrapped up proceedings in the fourth round.
“Listen, they’re both older guys that have been around here for a long time," he added.
"It was what I expected. [Nate Diaz is] so durable and so tough. Literally, I don’t know if you guys have monitors or you can hear what’s going on, but we went into Tony’s corner that round and his corner for some reason told him to take [Diaz] down.
"[They] said, ‘Take him down.’ He was chopping that leg, kicking that front leg, obviously doing damage and his corner told him to take him down. Nate capitalized on that the minute he did it.”