Ranking the Best Opponents for Nate Diaz's Return to UFC Fight

Nate Diaz is plotting a UFC return.

The 39-year-old from Stockton, California spent the vast majority of his combat sports career with the Las Vegas-based MMA promotion, but set out into free agency when his last contract expired last year.

His first fight outside the UFC saw him lose a boxing match to Jake Paul, but after he rebounded with a thrilling decision win over Jorge Masvidal last Saturday in Los Angeles, he is eyeing a return to the Octagon.

After Diaz left the UFC, company CEO Dana White suggested the Californian would always be welcome back. It remains to be seen if that ends up holding true, but if Diaz really does re-sign with the UFC, he has plenty of exciting options in terms of opponents, spanning several of the deepest divisions in MMA.

Here are four fights we think make sense for Diaz if he ends up heading back to the UFC.

Conor McGregor is the most lucrative opponent any UFC fighter can hope for. He's the biggest star in MMA history, and elevates any event he's part of into the mainstream.

However, the Irishman has a unique history with the Diaz that would make a potential fight between them absolutely gargantuan.

The two MMA stars have fought twice before, going 1-1. Diaz won their first encounter, in March of 2016, with a second-round submission that sent a shockwave through the sport. McGregor then evened the score in a rematch the following August, swiping a majority decision in one of the best fights of the year.

The pieces have been in place for a tie-breaking trilogy fight since the moment the their second fight ended, but it has yet to happen.

Today, when McGregor is plotting a comeback after a pair of high-profile losses to Dustin Poirier, and Diaz is aiming to return to the UFC after a brief stint as a boxer, the timing seems perfect. Neither guy is anywhere near title contention in any of the divisions they've fought in, so it makes all the sense in the world to give them the chance to settle their rivalry once and for all.

Nate Diaz and Dustin Poirier have never met in the Octagon, but the pair have been bitter rivals for years.

The rivalry between them started in late 2018 when they were booked to fight at UFC 230 in New York City. It would have been one of the bigger fights of the year, but it ended up falling through — and that's where things started to get heated. The two men publicly disagreed on why the fight was called off, and have seemingly wanted the chance to settle their differences in the Octagon ever since.

Just like a Diaz vs. McGregor trilogy fight, the timing for this one seems to be perfect.

Poirier, one of the most accomplished and popular lightweights in MMA history, recently came up short in what was most likely his final title fight, suffering a fifth-round submission loss to Islam Makhachev in a fun, back-and-forth fight. He has suggested he will most likely retire at this point, but has also expressed interest in fighting one more time if the right opportunity comes along.

A fight with a returning star like Diaz, who has arguably never been more popular after his boxing win over Masvidal, seems like just the ticket.

It would give Poirier the opportunity to close out his career with win, and Diaz a chance to burst right back into lightweight title contention — and it would most definitely be a fun fight for as long as it lasted.

Max Holloway is one of the biggest stars in the UFC right now, thanks in large part to his stunning, last-second knockout of Justin Gaethje at UFC 300 this past April. That victory, which earned the Hawaiian the promotion's symbolic "BMF" belt, ensured he would get another huge offer for his next fight, whether it's at featherweight or lightweight.

Diaz has spent the recent years of his MMA career competing at welterweight, but he has never been very good in that division and has had far more success as a lightweight — even challenging Benson Henderson for the weight class title in 2012.

Presuming Diaz would be willing to return to lightweight, a fight with Holloway would be absolutely massive.

Diaz was involved in the UFC's first BMF title fight, suffering a stoppage loss to Masvidal in 2019, and it would be cool to see him get a second shot at the belt he helped create against its current owner.

Much like a Diaz vs. Poirier matchup, this one also has all the makings of a classic, as both fighters are known for their involvement in wild and dramatic fights.

As we covered above, Saturday's Diaz vs. Masvidal boxing match was not the pair's first meeting.

They first fought at UFC 244 in 2019, with the promotion's inaugural BMF title on the line. On that night, Masvidal battered Diaz for several rounds, until the Californian suffered a bad cut on his brow, and the referee called the fight off. While Masvidal was well ahead on the scorecards by that point, it was seen as an inconclusive result and a disappointment in the eyes of most fans.

That's part of what made Diaz and Masvidal's Saturday rematch in the boxing ring compelling — we all wanted to see a more decisive outcome from them.

Unfortunately, we didn't get one.

While the fight was extremely entertaining — more so than anyone anticipated — Diaz's majority decision win was the subject of immediate controversy, with many viewers scoring the fight the other way around.

Now 1-1 throughout two undeniably indecisive fights, it only makes sense for Diaz and Masvidal to fight one more time. And given that Masvidal has also expressed interest in returning to the UFC, it only makes sense to have them run it back in the Octagon.

18,000 people were watching their fight in Los Angeles live, and if the social media reaction was any indication, there were many, many more watching on screens. Clearly, there's a lot of interest in this combat sports rivalry, and the UFC would surely be happy to help author the final chapter.