Nate Diaz drew ex-champ Anthony Pettis into a grueling, in-close fight that favored him in deep waters. Pettis managed to survive to the final bell, but Diaz’s offensive output was too much to overcome when the fight went to the scorecards.
The welterweight bout was the UFC 241 co-main event at Honda Center in Anaheim, California, and aired on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and UFC Fight Pass/ESPN+.
The final tally was 30-27, 30-27, 29-28 for Diaz, who fought for the first time since a decision loss to Conor McGregor in 2016.
“It’s Nick Diaz army, (expletive),” Diaz said to the cheers of the crowd after his victory.
Diaz explained his long layoff with a diss of his UFC colleagues. But he had praise for one fighter, who just happened to be cageside: Jorge Masvidal.
“The reason I was off is because everybody sucked, and there was nobody to fight,” Diaz said. “With this belt, I want to defend it against … Jorge Masvidal had a good last fight.
“All respect to the man, but there ain’t no gangsters in this game anymore. There ain’t nobody who’s done it right but me and him. I know my man’s a gangster, but he ain’t no West Coast gangster.”
