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Jorge Masvidal and Nate Diaz | Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images Jorge Masvidal has some problems with Nate Diaz. On June 1, Masvidal and Diaz face off in a 10-round boxing match at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles. The bout was rumored for some time but only came together officially in March, and according to Masvidal, a lot of that was due to difficulty in negotiating with Diaz. “At one point, because Vegas was booked out, a lot of places were booked out, New York was a strong possibility and he was like, ‘I won’t fight if it’s in New York. I won’t fight.’ I was like, what the f***?” Masvidal said Monday on The MMA Hour. “What’s the beef? This is boxing. That was in MMA [where] you got your ass whooped. But I get it. Alright. “Then another diva moment, he said he also wouldn’t fight if the fight’s in Miami. ‘I’m not fighting if it’s in Miami.’ OK, cool. ‘Well, last time I had a bad experience with my boxing match in Texas, so I’m not fighting in Texas.’ What the f***?! To book a venue of that magnitude, it’s not like it can happen in a week or a weekend. It happens months in advance. ... So all these problems and it’s like, dude, I’m just trying to f****** fight. What are you trying to do? It could have been in April in a different place, but this dude wasn’t trying to do it, so that just felt very diva-ish.” Those aren’t the only issues Masvidal has with Diaz, though. The two originally fought each other for the inaugural “BMF” title fight at UFC 244 in 2019, and Masvidal won by doctor stoppage at the end of the third round. But despite his victory, Masvidal says Diaz is demanding A-side treatment from the promotion. “Then other things that keep dropping in the press that are all on the contract side,” Masvidal explained. “Like, it’s ‘Nate Diaz-Masvidal.’ Well, I damn nearly killed you, so that means I’m supposed to get these little privileges. It’s supposed to say Masvidal [first]. But instead of trying to negotiate, he’s like, ‘I’m not fighting if it’s not like that.’ So the promoter is getting back to me, telling me, ‘There’s no budging there. He’s just not going to fight. He says he’ll just move on and go fight somebody else.’ Bro, do you want to fight? I’ve got numerous other [examples of] motives not to fight. So it just makes me question, maybe he don’t want this heat, bro. “Wanted his name first, walkout second, at the weigh-ins he has to weigh in last,” Masvidal continued. “Brother, you didn’t win the last fight. What the f*** are you talking about? A lot of me was like, ‘Eff that.’ Because there was a big chance the fight was going to be in Miami, I was really pushing for Miami — obviously I did so well there in the UFC — and Nate was like, ‘I’m not going to fight in Miami. I’m not going to fight in Miami.’ And I have to walk out first? Is this guy r*******? How would you walk out last in my city? I am not going to walk out first in my city against you. I already mopped you up. So these things are making me question his f****** motives. Do you want to scrap or what, bro?” Ultimately, Masvidal said he agreed to Diaz’s terms because he “wants to f****** beat his ass” and Diaz’s demands are pretty minor. There is one thing, though, that really did bother Masvidal: The date. Diaz vs. Masvidal takes place on the same day as UFC 302, headlined by a lightweight title fight between Islam Makhachev and Dustin Poirier. Masvidal believes counter-programming the UFC with a pay-per-view event is not the best idea, and given what he and Diaz both stand to make as part of the promotion, this is the point that angered Masvidal the most. “Even with this date, we could have pushed it back a week once the UFC announced they’re going to go June 1,” Masvidal said. “And I was willing to go Memorial [Day] weekend, the weekend before, but he was like, ‘No, I already announced on my Instagram we’re fighting on this day. I don’t give a f*** about the UFC, we’ll go head-to-head with them.’ That’s just not good business. I’m a f****** promoter, he claims to be a promoter — that’s just not good business. There’s absolutely nothing that weekend, we could take over that weekend. “I’m trying to sell pay-per-views. I finally carved something nice out for myself where I’m getting a good amount of the pay-per-view, boxing style. I have a great guarantee, but the back end could be way bigger than the guarantee, so why not go when there’s absolutely nothing? But this dude is like, ‘I’m not employed by the UFC, I don’t give a f*** about the UFC, we’ll go head-to-head with them.’ This is stupid to me. This is bad business. So for all these reasons, I’m a little extra amped up, because now you’re f****** with my pockets on top of it. I don’t want to go against the UFC.” Masvidal promises that extra energy is going to show itself in the ring. Because while Diaz may have been demure at their first press conference on Friday, he’s not going to have that option come June. “I felt like he didn’t want to be there,” Masvidal said. “And I get it, maybe he had weed to smoke and f****** vegan plates to eat or something. But his energy, the way I was reading, was like he didn’t want to be there. “He knows one thing — whether I’m in shape or not, I’m coming to fight. If you pull that s*** you pulled out with [Jake Paul], you show up like that to our fight, you know what’s going to happen — and it’s going to happen rather quick, because I’m going to put the pressure on you right away. I’m not going to let you slide for 10 rounds coming in off the couch like that. That’s not the same Nate Diaz we’re accustomed to in the UFC. I don’t think he took Jake seriously at all. So I hope he’s been preparing and getting himself ready for war, because he knows that’s just the way I roll, the way I scrap. I’m trying to kill your ass.”

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images Max Holloway had his long-term health in mind when he decided to cut out hard sparring from his training camps, but that changed for UFC 300. “For Justin Gaethje, this is like going through the gates of hell,” Holloway said Monday on The Pat McAfee Show. ”We had to bring sparring back. I had to cut the hair. We had to go back to the old ways. We did sparring. We got after it. Shout out to my teammates, shout out to my coaches. We did the damn thing with this one.” In the past, Holloway said sparring just caused too many issues, especially when he was going to war with his teammates during those sessions. According to Holloway, he wasn’t learning or preparing as much as he was just throwing down with a fight in the gym, rather than doing anything to actually help him get ready for a specific opponent. “Before, we gave up sparring. Just like how you said, because we have so many wars,” Holloway said. “I’ve been training so long that I felt like we just needed to be able to move with some of these guys. Even with my training partners, if we start going hard and they’ve got to give me a certain look, or me, if I’ve got to give a certain look to someone and I start getting beaten up and I know my look is going to be better than the look that I need to give, I’m going to go to that because no one likes to lose, at the end of the day. “We were doing this sparring where it’s like [at a certain speed], so these guys could give me the look that I needed.” The new approach paid off after Holloway produced one of his best performances to date with a largely dominant performance against a top lightweight contender in Gaethje. Despite being up on the scorecards and cruising toward a unanimous decision win, Holloway still risked it all by stomping his way to the center of the cage, pointing toward the floor, and inviting Gaethje to throw down with him. It turns out that was the plan all along, no matter if he winning or losing on Saturday night. “You’re fighting for the ‘BMF’ title,” Holloway said. “None of us are stepping back. We’re just throwing, coming to each other. It’s the ‘BMF’ title. What did you expect? I think it’s understood, especially with Gaethje. I was telling myself, whoever [is winning in] that last 10 seconds, I was going to point down and swing for the fences. “Just being able to share the octagon with him, he’s a legend. I don’t know if I’m ever going to share the octagon with him again, and UFC 300, the biggest card for probably the next decade, the ‘BMF’ title — if this is not ‘BMF’ worthy, I don’t know what is.” In the end, Gaethje got the worst of it as Holloway scored a dramatic, last-second knockout to end the fight, however the new “BMF” champion didn’t walk away unscathed. UFC CEO Dana White noted post-fight that Holloway’s leg had some gnarly swelling from all the kicks he absorbed from Gaethje. Holloway confirmed Monday that was what hurt most. “His kicks, the guy kicks like a donkey,” Holloway said. “I don’t know what, a kangaroo. The guy kicks hard.” Holloway has no problem dealing with a limp for a few days given the results in his fight, which also afforded him a $600,000 bonus as a reward for his performance. At this point, Holloway confessed that he’s probably seen the knockout hundreds of times because it’s just unavoidable. As much as he loves that moment, Holloway may have enjoyed the reaction he witnessed from other fighters watching the event even more. “It’s just amazing,” Holloway said. “Amazing to see people react, and then to see my peers react is even more crazy. Watching fighters geek out like fans, it’s a pretty cool thing to see. To hear Joe Rogan talk about it like that. Even Dana White — Dana White said that’s the craziest holy s*** moment ever he’s probably going to see for a long time. “Hopefully we can top it. Everybody always thinks that there’s one moment, but hopefully we can replicate it and do even better.”

Getty Images, MMA Fighting The Mixed Martial Arts Hour is back in your life! Below is a rundown of Monday’s show, which begins at 1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT / 6 p.m. UK time. 1 p.m. ET: We kick things off by recapping a historic weekend in Las Vegas for UFC 300. 2 p.m.: Kayla Harrison looks back at her successful UFC debut against Holly Holm. 2:20 p.m.: Arman Tsarukyan reflects on his UFC 300 victory over Charles Oliveira. 2:40 p.m.: Renato Moicano returns after his UFC 300 win over Jalin Turner. 3:05 p.m.: Diego Lopes keeps the UFC 300 vibes going after his win over Sodiq Yusuff. 3:30 p.m.: Aljamain Sterling rounds out the UFC 300 train after his successful featherweight debut against Calvin Kattar. 4 p.m.: Jorge Masvidal joins us in-studio to preview his boxing match against Nate Diaz. 5 p.m.: The Parlay Boys look back at their best bets from UFC 300 weekend. For the latest episodes of The MMA Hour, subscribe on Spotify or iTunes.

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images Kayla Harrison had just barely stepped out of the octagon this past Saturday at T-Mobile Arena before a series of cell phones were shoved in her face, all showing the same social media post. Everyone had the same question: “Did you see this?” This was a post from former two-division UFC champ Amanda Nunes, who’d posted a selfie video as Harrison gave her victory speech following a dominant win over Holly Holm at UFC 300. Nunes seemed to expect a callout from Harrison and was disappointed when her name didn’t get mentioned. Later, she posted a graphic touting her long list of victims with a caption “The GOAT.” “I expected her to chat,” Harrison said Monday on The MMA Hour. “I expected her and one other person to [chirp].” That other person, Cris Cyborg, came very close to booking a fight with Harrison in the PFL. But the fight never came to fruition, and Harrison signed with the UFC, so most of their fighting was done over the internet. Cyborg piggybacked on Nunes’ message, calling for the winner of the fight, an impossibility given her PFL contract and dramatic exit from the UFC. Nunes was a much more interesting development, however. Harrison thought “The Lioness” was retired, hence why she didn’t issue a callout after beating Holm. “She’s been retired for a while now, Harrison said. “If Amanda was still here, and she was holding the belt, then I would have been calling for Amanda Nunes. But for all intents and purposes, I thought she was happily retired and living her best life.” With Nunes hinting at a comeback, Harrison’s UFC career could quickly shift. It’s clear she is a top contender after stomping Holm. But a title fight between current bantamweight champ Raquel Pennington and ex-champ Julianna Pena is expected for later this year. If Nunes does return to fight the winner, that could delay Harrison’s title campaign possibly a year. Or could it? “I heard ‘Rocky’ is hurt all of a sudden, so if she can’t fight right now, I’m happy to fight whoever this summer,” Harrison said. Pennington did not immediately respond to a request for comment from MMA Fighting. But Pena recently echoed Harrison, saying her expected title shot against Pennington could be delayed until October. What does that all mean? Anything is possible for Harrison’s future. She likes the idea of an interim title fight with Pena at UFC 303 on June 29. “And then I’ll end up unifying it and fight Amanda,” she said. If Harrison does end up fighting Nunes, her former teammate at American Top Team, she said there will be plenty of promotional ammunition. The two shared training space for several years as she transitioned from judo to MMA and Nunes dominated the UFC’s bantamweight and featherweight divisions. In early 2022, Nunes abruptly left ATT, and speculation immediately pointed to Harrison as one of the causes. Harrison, of course, can’t speak for Nunes, but she acknowledges that somewhere along the line, they became rivals instead of colleagues. “Amanda’s worst enemy is her own mind,” Harrison said. “I think that Amanda’s worst enemy is her own mind. She got it in her head that I was coming for her. I think after she lost to Juliana, she thought that I was going to get in the cage and challenge her, which was not true, not the case, not even near true. She thought that everyone at the team was against her. Again, not true, not the case. Everyone on the team was doing their best to keep us in separate organizations, even though I wanted to go [from the PFL to the UFC] then; I was like, ‘I’m out, let’s go.’ I think they were still a 145 [division in the UFC]. I was like, ‘Come on, let’s do this.’ “So I think it just left a bad taste in her own mind. She just had this not true image of what was happening behind the scenes, and she didn’t really ask anybody, she just kind of assumed, and then she left, and I have no ill will toward Amanda. I think she’s great. She’s the GOAT for a reason. She’s awesome. I don’t think that the bad mouthing that she’s done about my team is fair or appropriate, and I don’t respect that, and I have personal beef with that, but other than that... .” Harrison isn’t sure whether she’ll end up fighting Nunes, or Pena, or Pennington next. Her top priority is capturing the UFC title. If she also managed to defeat the GOAT, that could hurt either. But yes, she’s gotten Nunes’ message, loud and clear. Whether they end up meeting later this year, next year, or not at all, she’s ready to prove she’s a better fighter than anyone, past or present.

Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images Jim Miller needs time to heal after enduring several injuries in his UFC 300 fight with Bobby Green. After becoming the first and only fighter to compete at UFC 100, UFC 200, and UFC 300, the New Jersey native came up short in his bid to get wins on all three cards, suffering a unanimous decision loss to Green. Miller started strong in the opening round, but Green picked up the pace and really started to pour on the punishment as the fight pressed on. By the end of the third round, Miller’s face was covered in blood from a pair of cuts ­— one above and one below his right eye — and he had to survive a late barrage from Green to prevent a stoppage. On Monday, Miller revealed the extent of the damage done, which included 23 stitches to close the wounds that Green inflicted upon him. “The struggle is real,” Miller said on Instagram. “Broke my hand at some point in the first, I think the later half of the round. Broke my toe. I guess I need some milk.” View this post on Instagram A post shared by Jim A10 Miller (@jimmiller_155) In his initial post, Miller remained in good spirits despite the loss, which dropped his record to 5-2 over his past seven UFC appearances. “I like to keep moving forward, regardless of the previous outcome,” Miller wrote. “I can only affect the future challenges. Time to heal up and move on, but at the moment more importantly it’s garden season.” Even in defeat, Miller extended his record for the most fights in UFC history (44), and he’ll attempt to build on his 26 wins — another all-time record in the UFC — when he books his next fight once he’s healed up.