Hours and hours of torturous training, dealing with various aches and pains in muscles you didn’t even know existed, pre-fight tension so thick you could cut it with a knife, and then 15 minutes of war with an adversary who has been training to either knock your head into the third row or to twist your arm or leg in directions it was never intended to go in.
Being a professional fighter is no joke. But for Nathan Diaz, fighting isn’t just the only thing he knows, it’s the only thing he could ever picture himself doing.
“I think this is probably one of the better ways to make money,” said Diaz, who will make a lot more of it if he beats Manny Gamburyan this Saturday night at The Palms in Las Vegas to win season five of The Ultimate Fighter. “I enjoy training and working out more than I would enjoy going to a job and working from 9 to 5. I’d rather fight. I like being in shape and being healthy and this is the best way to stay like that.”
That philosophy has led him to this point in his career and his life, and it’s evident that being a full-time fighter from the time he got out of high school has made him so relaxed in competition that his moves while standing and on the ground seem almost effortless.
Take his TUF5 semifinal match with Gray Maynard for example. Battered on the ground and bleeding from a pretty nasty cut, Diaz never stopped working for submissions while in the bottom position, and even when he finally landed the finisher, he did it almost matter-of-factly, like he was finishing up a sparring session. There are fighters in this game for a decade who don’t work with such ease when the pressure’s on.
One who does though is Nate’s older brother Nick, and not surprisingly, it was the welterweight contender who brought his younger sibling into the fight game.
“I started training when I was younger just because I didn’t have much else to do, and that’s what my brother did,” said Nate. “I just went to the gym with him, he started fighting in the UFC, and I wanted to help him win fights so I did everything I could. I put on the gloves and sparred with him, and before I knew it I was getting a fight of my own.”
Diaz the younger turned pro in October of 2004 with a WEC win over Alex Garcia. He would lose his second fight to a fighter his brother had knocked out in the UFC two and a half months earlier, Koji Oishi, in a Pancrase bout in Japan, and then went on a four fight winning streak.
But it was a loss in his seventh pro fight that really turned heads, as Diaz had a good first round against UFC lightweight title challenger Hermes Franca last October before tiring and succumbing to an armbar in the second frame. It was with this fight that Diaz proved that he was more than just a kid with a familiar last name. Diaz admits that his showing against Franca “made me confident,” and when the time came to cast for season five of The Ultimate Fighter, Nick Diaz and Nate’s trainer / manager Cesar Gracie, suggested he give it a shot.
“I talked to my brother and my manager, Cesar, and they were telling me that it would probably be the best thing for me,” remembered Diaz, a Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Purple Belt. “I was definitely not too excited about going. I wanted to, but at the same time I didn’t. I didn’t feel like I was too good on camera, and I’m not great at interviews, but I’m glad I did it the way it turned out.”
Well, you can’t ask for more than making it to the finals, and as the show began, many tabbed Diaz as an early favorite to go all the way. He didn’t necessarily see it that way though.
“I thought I was gonna be one of the least experienced guys in the house fightwise, to be honest with you,” he admits. “Once I was there, I realized there were people there with less fights than me, but there wasn’t any pressure. I thought I had a good chance, that’s for sure.”
On the show, Diaz had an entertaining battle with Rob Emerson before turning up the heat and taking the striker out late in the second round, survived a listless first round against Corey Hill and then submitted the 6 foot 4 Hill with a triangle choke, and finally submitted Maynard, which leads him to his bout with Team Pulver teammate Manny Gamburyan, who surprised many by making it to the finals over more decorated castmates.
“He’s good, a technical guy on the ground,” said Diaz of Gamburyan. “He’s tough and he’s a hard worker.”
For Diaz, it’s just another day in the office. Outside the Octagon though, everything has changed in terms of Diaz being recognized and stopped for autographs and pictures. Luckily, he’s seen this all before thanks to being around Nick for so many years.
“It’s kinda crazy,” admits Nate. “I kinda knew how it would be because I hang out with Nick all day and I’ve seen that happening to him for years, so it’s cool.”
The rest of the obligations that come with being in everyone’s living room every Thursday night have taken a little getting used to though.
“I don’t feel like I’m good at all that other stuff,” he said. “I just like to fight. I don’t like the talking part of it.”
You get the impression that he’ll be just fine though, in and out of the Octagon, and with Nick being protective and playing the older brother role perfectly, that road will be made a little smoother.
“He’s had a really big influence on me,” said Nate of his brother. “He’s a hard worker and a good person to follow around and look at. He told me to don’t get caught up in the bulls**t and keep training. Everybody else seems to go Hollywood. We live together, so he makes sure that I stay busy.”
Diaz going Hollywood? Nah, he’s all-Stockton, and when it comes to his day job and his future, he’s just as no-nonsense.
“I see myself fighting everybody at 155,” he said. “Whoever they want to give me, that’s what I do. I’m a fighter, right?”
This Saturday, from 9am to 9pm, catch Spike TV’s The Ultimate Fighter 5 marathon. Every episode from the most explosive and exciting TUF season yet will air back-to-back, leading to the live season finale, which features the rematch between coaches Jens Pulver and BJ Penn and the TUF5 final between Nate Diaz and Manny Gamburyan.
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