Nate Diaz Set as Massive Underdog in Return to UFC Octagon

Nate Diaz is making his long-awaited return to the UFC octagon at this Saturday’s UFC 263.

The Diaz brothers, Nick and Nate, have been synonymous with the UFC since the early 2000’s, but many people weren’t sure if we’d see either one of them compete with the promotion again. Nick hasn’t fought since his 2015 bout against Anderson Silva, and Nate hasn’t been scheduled for a fight since his tilt with Jorge Masvidal in November of 2019.

While Nick’s professional MMA career seems to be over, Nate has decided to return to competition to fight Leon Edwards, who is currently the No. 3 ranked welterweight in the world.

WynnBET has Diaz slated as the sizable +400 underdog (bet $100 to profit $400) against Edwards (-650).

Diaz is certainly entertaining and a fan favorite fighter, but even at +400 odds, he isn’t worth a bet on Saturday night.

The 36-year old has his best days behind him, and now he’s facing an opponent who is a stylistic nightmare for him. Edwards was on an eight-fight win streak in the UFC heading into his last bout, which ended in a No Contest when he accidentally hit his opponent, Belal Muhammed, with a grotesque eye poke.

The last time the English fighter lost, was against current welterweight champion Kamaru Usman back in December of 2015. Edwards has the ability to smother his opponents with his wrestling, which has been the longtime weakness of Diaz, who primarily relies on his boxing.

Diaz also has to continuously deal with a large amount of scar tissue that has been built up around his eyebrows due to his long tenure in combat sports. It doesn’t take much for that scar tissue to open up and turn his face into a bloody mess. His latest fight, against Masvidal, was stopped by a doctor due a cut that opened up that was too big to deal with.

Don’t expect Diaz’s return to the UFC octagon this week to be a triumphant one.