Nate Diaz: UFC fighter acquires Nevada State Athletic Commission boxing licence – reports

Rewind to the start of December and Conor McGregor made back page news when the California State Athletic Commission awarded the former UFC two-weight world champ a boxing licence, fuelling speculation of a mega-fight with boxing’s number one superstar Floyd Mayweather Junior.

Now McGregor’s UFC nemesis Nate Diaz, who made the sport's golden boy tap out in the second round of their first clash back in March, has reportedly also acquired a boxing licence.

According to ESPN.com, Diaz [unlike McGregor] has paid the fine he received after his actions during the bottle-throwing UFC 202 news conference with McGregor last August and as a result can attempt to gain his boxing licence through the Nevada State Athletic Commission [NSAC].

"Nate paid his fine and has requested a boxing license,” confirmed the NSAC's executive director Bob Bennett.

"Upon his submission of the required licensing information, we expect to approve his license as of this date. We welcome Nate and his older brother, Nick, to fight in Las Vegas, whether it's with the UFC or a boxing promoter."

It is also reported that Diaz has submitted a film of himself boxing for the commission to review.

This sparks intrigue as to why the California-born fighter has decided to go down this route. Mayweather has been quoted in the past saying that Diaz had "talked to me about coming to box” after he told the unbeaten boxer that he felt like the UFC had "put him on the shelf” after Diaz v McGregor part two, but wanted to stay active.

Diaz has also told the UFC that he will not pick up the phone unless they were to offer him $20million to fight and that he also was not interested in a return to the octagon unless it was against McGregor.

Diaz has yet to comment on his attempt to gain a boxing licence.