One of the UFC‘s biggest stars has selected the guy that he wants to face next. That star is Stockton’s Nate Diaz (20-13) and the opponent that he’s zeroing in on is one of the best welterweights in the world, Vicente Luque (21-7-1).
Vicente Luque is currently the fourth ranked welterweight in the UFC. Luque made his debut with the promotion back in 2015 coming off of a stint on The Ultimate Fighter. He didn’t win the show and he lost his first UFC fight on the finale.
However, since that loss, you cannot deny that Luque hasn’t been one of the best in the world. Since losing his debut with the promotion, Luque has gone an astonishing 14-2 since 2015.
During that time, the only two men to have defeated him inside the octagon is Wonderboy Thompson and Leon Edwards. Personally, I would love to see Luque and Edwards fight again to determine a true number one contender.
However, Luque has wanted a fight with Nate Diaz for a while. After his last two UFC victories, Luque has told the media that he wants to fight Nate Diaz. He respects Diaz, but he also knows the rub that you can get from fighting a star like that.
Diaz’s UFC Selections
Make no mistake about it, Nate Diaz is one of the UFC’s superstars. With that, he has earned himself a few privileges that a lot of other fighters really don’t have. One of those is having the ability to have a great say in who he fights next.
On paper, Diaz has not really been close to a title contender in years for the promotion. However, that hasn’t stopped him from wanting to fight the best of the best the UFC has to offer. Simply put, if you look tough and you’re perceived as the best, Diaz wants to fight you.
When Conor McGregor was on the rise, Diaz called him out and got the fight. The win over McGregor in their first fight is what made him an even bigger star. Then, their second fight was one of the best fights you’ll ever see.
After defeating Anthony Pettis, Diaz called out Jorge Masvidal who was becoming one of the biggest stars in the UFC. Earlier this year, Diaz fought Leon Edwards who was perceived as one of the best and a guy that nobody wanted to fight.
One could point out the fact that Diaz is just 1-3 in his last four so he shouldn’t be fighting a top contender. However, with Diaz it really doesn’t matter. He’s one of those guys where a record really doesn’t matter. While it doesn’t make sense on paper, I believe the UFC is moving towards booking Diaz against Vicente Luque.