Diaz: I just don’t like being looked at so negatively
“I sat back and had time to really think, I would see other fighters doing Q&As and meet & greets and all my exposure has been just fighting like I’m just this war animal.”
UFC lightweight Nate Diaz has not fought in over a year. He spent the time training, and reflecting.
While doing media interviews on Thursday, he grabbed a magic marker and drew himself into the UFC on FOX 17 poster, flexing, with six-pack abs. All in attendance laughed with him. He also interacted warmly with fans throughout.
“It seems like I did a lot of thinking while I’ve been out of the game,” he said to Adam Hill for the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “I wasn’t really out of the game because I’ve been training like I was getting ready for a fight that could happen any day. But when I sat back and had time to really think, I would see other fighters doing at Q&As and meet and greets and all my exposure has been just fighting like I’m just this war animal that people like to look at and say, ‘This guy’s this or this guy’s that.’
“I realized too over this time that there’s all these (expletive) cameras here, I can speak to them a little bit and tell my opinions.”
“I just don’t like being looked at so negatively. There’s a lot of bad media about me and people think I’m argumentative or whatever. I think it’s a lot of miscommunication that makes me not look so hot and makes the UFC not look so hot.”
“You know in “Gladiator” when they’re sitting in the back waiting to go fight and die? That’s how I feel (before fights). Not to be dramatic or anything, but it’s rough. But it’s what I’m doing so I guess I have to try to look at the brighter side of things.”
Nate Diaz fights Michael Johnson on the main card of UFC on FOX 17, tonight!
And hey Nate, we love you.