Nate Diaz reveals the ‘hardest fight’ of his UFC career, and it’s not Conor McGregor

Nate Diaz has revealed the toughest fight of his UFC career, and it wasn’t either of his two battles with Conor McGregor.

Diaz, 40, is one of the most popular fighters in UFC history. He competed in the Octagon from 2007 t0 2022, battling some of the most dangerous fighters at both lightweight and welterweight in that timeframe.

Highlights of Diaz’s resume include memorable wins over the likes of McGregor, Jim Miller, Michael Johnson, Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone, and Anthony Pettis. He lost his fair share of fights in the Octagon too, but many of his losses came against top-flight opposition, such as McGregor, Benson Henderson, Rafael dos Anjos, Leon Edwards, and Jorge Masvidal.

Of all the legendary fighters Diaz met in the Octagon, however, he claims the toughest was Josh Neer.

Neer is a name many new fight fans won’t recognize, but he was an important part of the UFC roster many years ago.

Diaz met “The Dentist” in 2008. He won their three-round scrap by split decision, improving to 5-0 in the Octagon in the process.

Nate Diaz looks back on his UFC scrap with Josh Neer

Diaz looked back on his war with Neer during an appearance during an appearance on Bradley Martin’s Raw Talk Podcast.

“I always say it, but there’s a guy that I fought, named Josh Neer,” he said. “He’s a motherf*cker. He’s my boy now, though. We’re homies.

“But Josh Neer fought my brother [Nick Diaz first],” Diaz added. They were fighting for three rounds, hard, and Nick’s doing his thing, hitting him a lot, and I was like ‘This f*cking guy is crazy.’ Then Nick ended up finishing him in the third round. Most people Nick finished were all in the first round, and maybe the second round.

“Time went by, and then [Neer] went down to 155 [pounds], where I was fighting at,” Diaz continued. “I was beating people. That’s when I first got to the UFC, I beat a few people… So they gave me Josh Neer, who was one of the top five guys. That’s right when I started to fight top people. And it was my hardest fight.

“I watched him fight so much, and then trained so perfect for him that everything was like… He’d throw punches, I slipped it right under it, grabbed him and everything. But he countered everything, and it was like if you watch that fight, me versus Josh Neer, it’s a hundred miles an hour. It’s a good fight.”

Are you surprised Nate Diaz didn’t name drop someone like Conor McGregor or Jorge Masvidal as his toughest Octagon opponent?