Nate Diaz was left completely bloodied in his return on Saturday night.
Mike Perry made quick work of the former MMA star, and walked away with a TKO win during Saturday’s Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano card at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California, which marked the inaugural MMA card broadcasted on Netflix. Diaz’s camp called the bout after the second round following a huge knee to his head, which only added to the blood that was gushing out of Diaz at the time.
“Look, I landed really good shots and I was hitting,” Perry said. “I was getting a little tired, but I think that’s part of it … He’s the toughest f***ing guy out there, there’s no quit in him … Blood was spilled.”
Perry dominated nearly the entire way, and came out hot with several body shots in the opening seconds that seemed to throw Diaz off from the jump. While Diaz recovered a bit and landed multiple head shots of his own later in the round, Perry got a couple elbows in against the cage right before the bell sounded. That sent the fight into the second round, something the first three fights on the card failed to do. They all ended with opening-round knockouts.
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Perry picked it right back up in the second, and landed multiple hits that sent blood pouring out of Diaz’s head. Quickly, Perry threw Diaz down to the mat and sent a barrage of blows down as the blood kept pouring. Diaz kept absorbing hits, seemingly trying to run out the clock on the round. But Perry, right before the bell sounded, delivered the knee that sent Diaz stumbling back down to the mat with his face completely red. The hit looked close to a finishing blow had it come earlier in the period.
It turned out to be enough. Diaz’s team called the fight after that during the break. That officially gave Perry the TKO win as Diaz started using water to wash as much blood off of him as he could.
Diaz said after that he didn’t have any issue with the stoppage. He did, though, get on board with a rematch in the future.
“I had blood in my eye, I couldn’t see … It’s all good,” Diaz said. “Next time, he ain’t gonna be able to do nothing.”
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Diaz entered the night with a 22-13 career record, though he’s not fought since he beat Tony Ferguson via a fourth-round submission back in 2022. He has since dabbled a bit in boxing, and beat former UFC rival Jorge Masvidal in 2024 after falling to Jake Paul the year before, but he had been contemplating a return to the sport in recent years. While he’s 41 and undoubtedly no longer in the peak of his career, a potential trilogy bout with Conor McGregor, who he upset back in 2016, is absolutely on the table for a future fight. McGregor is making a return later this summer in a bout with Max Holloway, something that was announced on Saturday night.
Perry entered the night having lost four of his last five UFC bouts, but he also left back in 2021 and has found a new revival in his career in bare-knuckle boxing. He went on a huge 6-0 run in BKFC and beat several big names, though he too fell to Paul in a boxing match in 2024.
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Perry didn’t waste any time trying to line up his next fight, either, and turned to Paul — who was promoting Saturday night’s card and standing right next to him in the ring. Paul didn’t hesitate.
“I’ll MMA this motherf***er,” Paul said. “I already beat that ass in boxing.”
For more on Saturday’s Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano card on Netflix, check out full results, highlights and more with our Uncrowned event hub.
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