UFC: Nate Diaz Becomes UFC's Biggest Star; 2 Welterweight Stars Next Possible Opponents

After an impressive win at UFC 241, Nate Diaz becomes UFC’s biggest star.

UFC 241 indeed lived up the hype as both Diaz and Stipe Miocic put on a show. Diaz took Anthony Pettis to a striking clinic to score a unanimous decision win over the former UFC lightweight champ.

Diaz’s spectacular performance did not go unnoticed as UFC President Dana White confirmed that Diaz is now a “needle-mover” of the UFC.

In an interview after the fight, White said it is hard to deny Diaz’s superstardom.

“Yeah, pretty tough to deny (his superstardom). He’s a needle-mover now,” White said.

White also commended Diaz’s ability to outstrike a former champ despite the fact that he hasn’t fought in three years.

“You have to talk about the layoff. You have to talk about that this kid hasn’t fought in three years. He looked a little rough in the first round, looked like he gassed out at the end of the first round, too. And then completely changed his game plan and started to fight his fight,” White said.

The UFC boss may have also hinted at what could come next for Diaz. According to White, Diaz has the thing that people like, and based on the way White delivered the statement, it seems like the UFC could be looking for a “superfight” for Diaz.

“I read the headline of one of these newspaper stories on this and it said: ‘UFC needs an anti-hero and here he is…Nate Diaz’ — it’s true. I said it leading up to this fight, he’s the guy that says ‘F--k you’ to the man, but he never really says ‘F--k you’ to the man. Every time I see him Nate is always cool. He just has this thing that people like,” White revealed.

White also said that fans would like to see Diaz vs. Masvidal next but at this point, he’s not sure if it will materialize.

“I think everyone would want to see that fight. I don’t know, we’ll wait to see how everything plays out,” White stated.

In his post-fight interview, Diaz called out “gangster” Jorge Masvidal and said that nobody in the UFC does it right but him and Masvidal.

“The reason that I was off is because everybody sucks. There was nobody to fight. But, with this belt, I want to defend it against… Jorge Masvidal had a good last fight. A good last fight. All respect to the man. But there aren’t no gangsters in this game anymore. There’s nobody that does it right but me and him. So I know my mans a gangster but, he ain’t no west coast gangster. You know what I’m saying?,” Diaz exclaimed.

However, UFC welterweight sensation Mike Perry also expressed his desire to beat Diaz at 170. Perry took to Twitter his call for a welterweight showdown with Diaz and said that he feels he deserve to say that Diaz can’t take him out at 170-lb division.