Nate Diaz is desperate to leave the UFC because they only have two worthy opponents for him, and he has no interest in fighting either.

The MMA legend believes UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou and middleweight king Israel Adesanya are the only fighters on the roster who have done enough to earn a fight with him.

“The only worthy opponents they have here for me is f****** Francis Ngannou or Adesanya. With all due respect, because I don’t even want to fight those guys. I like those guys a lot,” Diaz said on The MMA Hour.

“If I’m going to fight anybody, it’s going to be somebody who’s done something great like those f******.”

His comments come amid his ongoing contract drama with the UFC. The 37-year-old has just one fight left on his contract and is keen to compete one last time for the company before leaving to explore the lucrative free agency market and a potential fight with Jake Paul.

The UFC doesn’t want to see him go and is doing everything in their power to keep him, but Diaz believes they have gone too far and says he now feels like a hostage.

“I was trying to get this s*** on the road, but they don’t want me out of contract and they’re keeping me in there and they’re holding me hostage,” he claimed.

“I don’t want no more money. I want to go do different stuff. I went in there and talked to them, and it’s with all due respect. I might just re-sign afterwards, but I need out.”

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The fan favourite believes the reason he is being held back is so the UFC can match him up with Conor McGregor when he returns from injury.

Diaz is uninterested in that fight right now because he is keen to compete as soon as possible and ‘Notorious’ may not return to action until 2023, after suffering a fractured tibia and fibula at UFC 264 in July 2021.

One month prior to that was the last time Diaz fought, when he suffered a lopsided decision defeat to Leon Edward at UFC 263.

Ever since then he’s been relentlessly calling for another fight, but it’s now been 13 months and he says the UFC is refusing to match him up.

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