UFC 263: Nate Diaz being a legend vs Leon Edwards: Refuses fist bump, applauded being put on his ass

Nate Diaz is truly one of a kind.

The legendary MMA fighter, who is 20-13 after his defeat to Leon Edwards at UFC 263, is still maybe the most beloved fighter on the planet today.

Still, a loss for Diaz is nothing when you've reached his legendary status.

The kind of entertainment and excitement he brings to each fight is totally unique and the UFC fans let him know that at UFC 263.

Even in defeat, he provided a handful of textbook Nate Diaz moments to savour.

The 36-year-old, younger brother to Nick, was desperate to drag Edwards into his mind games and repeatedly offered his back to the Brit throughout the five rounds.

Whenever the pair got into exchanges and broke away, Diaz would keep letting his foe know what he thought of his work. Sometimes it would be a smile, sometimes a thumbs up, sometimes a shake of his head.

In the third, the clinch work began to show that Edwards indeed the naturally bigger man than Diaz at 170lbs.

Elbows have always been a strength of Edwards and when he got Diaz down in the third he made sure to let those elbows fly. That resulted in cuts for Diaz on the side of his head and above his eye.

After that, Diaz's protective cup got dislodged and the ref had to stop the fight so he could rearrange.

Edwards attempted to give Diaz an etiquette-led fist bump as the fighters met in the middle again, but Diaz swatted away the gesture and demanded they get back to work.

By the end of round three, Diaz was a crimson mess.

At the beginning of the fourth, Edwards landed an incredible left hand - one that he'd landed all night - Diaz actually gave him a thumbs up and some words of praise mid-fight. You can't make it up.

Edwards swept his feet with a kick at one point and Diaz was very impressed with that, as well.

Then Edwards stormed towards Diaz and swept his legs. Once again, Diaz got up and applauded Edwards’ work. Then Edwards tried to land another leg kick and this time, Diaz checked it. At that point, Diaz pointed at his foe and told him he'd read the kick.

The climax of the fight had the arena in Glendale, Florida going crazy. With around 45 seconds left on the clock, Diaz hit a right-handed Stockton slap that set up a straight left that landed flush on Edwards' chin.

Edwards was 'sleep walking' as Diaz put it in the press conference and was incredibly lucky to survive the round.

Diaz might have put him away if he didn't take a second to point at Edwards and tell him he'd caught him!

But once Edwards did make the bell, he was the rightful winner. Edwards took the fight via unanimous decision 49-46 across the board, but for what was meant to be Edwards' crowning moment - and it was a marvellous performance - it was the Nate Diaz show through and through.

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