Nate Diaz 'a world-class fighter'? Kamaru Usman says 'that's absurd'

Kamaru Usman is flabbergasted by Henry Cejudo’s campaign for Nate Diaz to get a UFC title shot.

Welterweight champion Leon Edwards was among the names Diaz called out following his majority decision boxing win over Jorge Masvidal on Saturday at Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.

Diaz fought Edwards in a non-title fight at UFC 263. Edwards was dominating Diaz until he got rocked in the final minute of the fight. Edwards survived and won by unanimous decision. Cejudo argued that Diaz is a lucrative enough name to get a rematch against Edwards, but Usman wasn’t having any of it.

“Nate Diaz is on the completely tail-end of his career,” Usman said on his “Pound 4 Pound” podcast with Henry Cejudo. “Yes, of course he’s made a great name for himself and big shoutout to Nate Diaz for still having that notoriety to be able to go out there and still get paychecks like this because he’s getting all these good fights on the outside, but come on. This ain’t Nate Diaz is going to come in and walk into fighting world-class mixed martial arts fighters right now in the UFC. Come on. That’s absurd.”

Diaz is no longer with the UFC, but Dana White said the octagon will always be his home.

“So are you saying Nate Diaz ain’t a world-class fighter?” Cejudo asked.

“He can still fight, but he’s not a world class fighter,” Usman responded. “Are you crazy? Throw Nate Diaz in there with Shavkat Rakhmonov, throw Nate Diaz in there with myself, throw Nate Diaz in there with JDM (Della Maddalena), throw Nate Diaz in there with Justin Gaethje. Come on!”

Diaz also expressed interest in fighting Jake Paul, and that’s a fight Usman thinks he should take.

“Nate Diaz, PFL and Jake Paul offer you $15 million to fight him in MMA, I’m taking that Nate Diaz,” Usman said. “I actually think he wins that fight. Shout out to Nate Diaz, I think he actually wins a fight like that.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Diaz vs. Masvidal 2.