Ranking the top 10 most iconic Nate Diaz performances

8: UFC Fight Night 19 vs Melvin Guillard – F*** the UFC’s plans

While there’s no shortage of paranoia from Diaz some of it is definitely justified. His relationship with the UFC has been shaky for over a decade and the notion of the UFC being against him are much less crazy than the notion of a SWAT team waiting to bust down the front door after a smoke session (nobody else hears sirens, it’s just you, homie!).

Diaz found himself in the main event at a UFC Fight Night against Melvin Guillard. The thing is, Diaz was still young in his UFC career with little to no bargaining power and coming off two straight decision losses. Guillard on the other hand was coming off three straight wins, two in the UFC including an emphatic first round TKO of Dennis Siver. On the surface it seemed like the UFC wanted to use Diaz to build up Guillard.

The fight was surprising. While many expected the vicious knockout artist Guillard to have a clear advantage on the feet he was sucked into that classic Diaz rhythm and was tiring by the second round. Guillard faked being rocked, used the cage to bounce off into a takedown – right into a guillotine. Diaz knew the tap was coming and gave us a classic encouraging reaction to it.

Nate Diaz had secured a huge win in one of his, at the time, top performances, and in doing so, his future in the UFC.