Issue 142

June 2016

Nick and Nate Diaz are back in the spotlight after once again turning MMA on its head, but are the Stockton siblings really all bad?

To the rest of the world they’re the bad boys of mixed martial arts. The foul-mouthed, double bird-flipping siblings from Stockton, who would slap you in the face as impulsively as anybody else would shake your hand. But don’t believe for a second that’s the real Nicholas and Nathan Diaz.

To those who know them best of all, UFC standouts Nick and Nate are two of the most hardworking, polite and respectful athletes in fight sports. Away from the bright lights of the TV cameras, the feverish fans and high pressure of the Octagon, they’re just two brothers who fought for everything in their lives and became a runaway success story.

Born to fight

You can’t keep a Diaz down. Just when you think their days of high drama are a thing of the past, up pops an opportunity for one of the 209’s finest sons to give the MMA world a reality check by completely derailing the biggest money train in UFC history – Conor McGregor.

When Nate returns to rematch ‘The Notorious’, he’ll be headlining the biggest event in the history of the Octagon and – win, lose or draw – he’ll reap the financial rewards of a lifetime on the mats.

The rest of the world may think the millionaire bank balance that comes with his latest victory is undeserving of one half of double-act more used to controversy than credibility. But to those closest to the Diaz brothers, there isn’t two more deserving athletes in mixed martial arts.

“They’re really good guys,” says Richard Perez, who’s worked as boxing coach to the Diaz brothers since 2004. “They would take the shirt off their backs for you. They’re awesome people. They’re nothing like what you see on TV. 

“Some people who don’t know who they are see them on the street and don’t even know they are fighters because they’re so polite, quiet and respectful. When we are in the gym by ourselves we joke around a lot but we really focus on training. They are both great listeners.”

Head coach Cesar Gracie agrees: “They’re not spiteful, hateful people in any sense of the word and that’s proven day-in, day-out in the gym. But they know the person stepping in there against them in the cage is coming to knock their teeth out. That’s how they visualize it. They’ve found a way of thinking it’s the same mentality of a street fight being transferred to the cage.”

The brothers are first to admit they were born to fight. It’s in their DNA and without mixed martial arts their futures would have been far bleaker. But jiu-jitsu, boxing and wrestling offered first Nick, then younger Nate, salvation in one of Northern California’s roughest inner-city neighborhoods. 

Nick recalls: “We lived in Lodi a lot growing up and did a lot of Boys & Girls Club stuff back then. My mom had to work all day from morning to six or seven o’clock at night. I would just go somewhere and do something or just stay at home all day long, especially when we had summer breaks. We’d just be at home. 

“I had Child Protective Services called on me when I was really, really little. When we were out on the streets there were some bad kids. It was rough. You can’t always avoid people or pick your friends, especially when you are really little. You don’t say, ‘Those are bad kids, I’m not going to hang out with them.’ It was hard.”

Fighting became second nature. Street rivalries forced both to raise their fists and soon combat became encouraged at home as a way of life.

Nate adds: “We had a punching bag hanging from the tree in our front yard. It was kind of crazy, thinking back on it, but when we were kids we put mats down in our room, hung a punch bag in the front yard and got some boxing gloves. 

“My dad came home one night with gloves. We were like first or second grade and he gave them to us and told us to box. Nick punched me in the nose and the blood was everywhere. I was crying but ever since I thought, ‘We need gloves here at all times.’”

Finding jiu-jitsu

Like most youngsters, the brothers enjoyed all sports. They swam competitively and played hockey, basketball and football. They may have struggled academically, but they thrived in athletic competition.

But it wasn’t until Nick was eventually pushed towards martial arts that the brothers found their true calling. They excelled on the mats and, like sponges, soaked up knowledge passed down through the generations of Brazilian jiu-jitsu’s first family.

“I was lucky I got into jiu-jitsu by my sophomore year. I drank and did all that s**t when I was way too young to be doing it. I did that kind of s**t when I was a seventh grader. It screwed me up for high school but at the same time it lined me up for getting into jiu-jitsu when I did. I got into fighting through jiu-jitsu,” says Nick.

“At first, I wanted to play football. I was pretty good when I played with the kids in the neighborhood. I was on a basketball team. I played a lot of sports as a kid. I wasn’t just sitting around, you know? I got into programs but it wasn’t easy. I had to get a ride there and I ended up moving around a lot. 

“A lot of kids who did well at sports had it pretty good at home. They made it to practice, they had the whole dad and coach thing going. I just wanted to play football but there is too much politics in football. They had their dads all up in the mix. 

“I would whoop their kids’ asses playing football. And my brother would play football with all these kids and do better than them, but they played their kids in the game. It was a big mess. Their dads were the coaches and all that bulls**t.”

He adds: “One time I had the wrestling coach for Lodi High try to get me back into Lodi High School so I could wrestle and they were like, ‘No, no, no we don’t want that kid.’ I was going to wrestle. I was going to go back to high school real quick and wrestle. That might have done something for me. Maybe I would have won a few of those early fights in the UFC on account of being a more competitive wrestler.” 

Eventually, their mother signed Nick up for jiu-jitsu classes at the Animal House Gym. That soon led him, and Nate, to Cesar Gracie Jiu-Jitsu where their lives changed forever. Under Cesar’s wing they found mixed martial arts and a way of making a living.

The Octagon

“As soon as Nick got his blue belt he was tapping out the biggest guys, big wrestlers, strong tough guys, and that was it for me. I was sold,” explains Nate, who had to that point been simply an unwilling sparring partner. “I thought, ‘All you gotta do is be a blue belt and you can take on whoever you want.’

“Pretty soon I realized it’s realistic. If you want your blue belt, purple belt, brown belt, you gotta go get it. You don’t just get to get it, you got to get after it. Competition has been going on my whole life, it’s every day in the gym on the mats.” MMA was just a natural progression. 

Nick made his pro debut at IFC Warriors Challenge in Oroville, California on August 31st 2001, winning via triangle choke. Nate followed him into the cage three short years later, debuting with the same submission at WEC 12. Combined they’ve now had 66 professional bouts.

The Diaz brothers emerged from the streets of Stockton and have taken on and, more often than not, defeated the world, attracting one of the largest fan bases in mixed martial arts along the way. 

Gracie says: “It really is rags to riches. They know that their lives can change, their profile increases if they win, so these guys in front of them are stopping them getting on in life.

“Because of the way they approach fighting and their opponents they have a knack of getting under people’s skin a lot. You can call it an intelligent way of psyching out your opponent, but I don’t think it is something conceived or made up. It is genuine emotion which fuels their approach. 

“It’s a facet of these guys’ game, which has developed naturally over time. But you can also see that there is a sportsmanship there too, because both can be humble after a fight.”

He adds: “Once an opponent signs on the dotted line, that’s enough for them to know that the issue is ‘on’. They don’t need any extra motivation once they know who their opponent is, or even who their rivals are around them. They think in a team mentality, too, and believe their backs are against the wall. It’s a particular mindset they have. A street-fight mindset.”

Perez, who started working with Nick prior to his fight with Robbie Lawler back at UFC 47, says he saw the fight in both brothers right away. He’s helped them to refine their standup and develop the volume-punching style that has made them as deadly on the feet as they are on the ground.

“We train that way,” says Perez. “I have a routine where Nick would throw a lot of punches for a reason. Nick set the record for throwing the most punches, then he broke his own record and then Nate went out and broke Nick’s record. Nobody has beat the record yet and that makes me feel good. That’s what we work on every day.”

He shares Gracie’s admiration for his students, too. And that’s why he’d match either with anybody in the world from 185lb down at a moment’s notice.

“Nick has a lot of heart. He has real spunk in him. I could see from day one that he has a lot of talent. As regards to Nate, well, he looked up to Nick a lot. Nick is a tough, tough guy and a great fighter and Nathan wanted to be just like him. 

“Nathan is just as tough as Nick, believe me. Even though Nathan looks up to him he is just as tough. He has the heart, too. He decided to follow his brother and I am glad he did.”

“I wasn’t supposed to do anything else. That’s for sure,” Nick says. “Everybody else that fights, they have a lot of things going on in their lives. They try to do too many things. They want to be the man of many talents, the jack of all trades. 

“I don’t do s**t. I fight people. I have a chance to do this. Just like all the action movies I watched as a kid. I thought they were really cool movies now I am starring in one of them – but it’s real life. I look at it as a ride. And I’m just enjoying the ride.”

Cowboy crushed: Prolific punching

Nate still holds the record for the number of significant strikes in a single fight. He landed 238 blows on Donald Cerrone to win a thrilling decision in December 2011.

Bad Boys for life: ‘Noons bust-up started it all’

From post-fight skirmishes inside the Octagon to brawls outside of it, controversy has seemingly followed the Diaz brothers and their Skrap Pack entourage throughout their careers.

So how did two quiet and unassuming brothers gain a reputation for trouble? Boxing coach Richard Perez thinks he knows.

“When Nick fought KJ Noons in Hawaii they asked him to come back into the ring after the fight to do a post-fight interview. Nick still had his gloves on and he went back in the ring. He didn’t know what was going on. 

“It made him look like a bad guy and ever since then people have talked about him being a bad guy so he said, basically, ‘OK. If that’s what you want me to be.’ But he’s not a bad guy. He’s not that way. That’s what started it. 

“KJ Noons and his guys started it right there. That was what started the whole thing about being bad boys. It made him look bad and put a brand on him and Nate.”

Skrap Pack in 2016: Rolling deep

The Skrap Pack used to be just the Diaz brothers, Jake Shields, Gilbert Melendez, and veterans Daniel Roberts and David Terrell. But the latest squad rolls much deeper and includes Rickson Gracie’s youngest son and arguably the planet’s most talented world champion boxer. Here’s how the Skrap Pack shaped up in 2016:

• Nick Diaz: Dogged by pot busts, his career has stalled but big UFC bouts await later this year.
• Nate Diaz: Defeating Conor McGregor put the TUF 5 champ back on the map. Now he’s a millionaire.
• Jake Shields: Now with WSOF, the 170lb’er has won significant titles in four promotions.
• Gilbert Melendez: The lightweight star is currently under suspension for testing positive for a PED last summer.
• Yancy Medeiros: The Hawaiian UFC 155lb’er guarantees action when he fights in the Octagon.
• Kron Gracie: The youngest son of MMA icon Rickson Gracie is unbeaten in mixed martial arts. 
• Chris Avila: A featherweight who rolls daily with the brothers and has grand aspirations in MMA.
• Andre Ward: Undefeated boxing world champion who regularly spars in the ring with the Diaz brothers.