* Triggers; Swearing, little bit of angst and fluff
Nick POV
Y/N was sitting in the crowd, watching me fight. “Is she okay?” I asked my team as I sat down between the rounds. “Yeah she’s having a good time buddy, keep the pace up and you win this fight.” I nodded. “Keep an eye on her for me.” I stood up ready for the next round. “Of course, you beat the shit out of this guy okay.” The team left the octagon and next round started.
I walked around the octagon with my arms held high. “Good job!” Nate hugged me as the rest of the team joined as well. “Great job Nick.” They all patted me on the back of my shoulders. I tried to look outside the cage searching for her. “She’s fine brother.” Nate squeezed my shoulders as Joe came up to me for the small interview. “Nick, what a fight tonight, what are you thoughts on this one?” As I wanted to answer someone yells at me. I looked away, a guy is standing outside the octagon, yelling and pointing at me. “You’re a bitch Nick and so is she!” He pointed at her, he was standing a few meters away from her. I walked away from joe to the fence. “What did you say?!” He laughs and points again at her. “She’s a bitch Nick!” People in the crowd started to throw stuff at the guy. “Fuck you bitch!” I yelled back. I turned around and looked at my team. “Get her out of there.” A scream was heard, I looked back behind me to the crowd. A mega fight was happening. ‘Fuck!’ “Y/N!” I ran out the cage and jumped into the crowd. I heard people screaming my name. Security was trying to push people away. “Y/N!” “Nick!” I heard her yell back. I tried to look around me but everywhere were people, pushing, punching even jumping. “Nick!” I saw her just out of the crowd, screaming my name. I pushed myself through the people. “Are you okay.” I grabbed her face, checking her for anything bad. “I’m okay, are you?” “Don’t worry, I’m fine.” I pushed her away from the madness. “Who was that guy?” “Don’t know, did he hurt you?” “Nick I’m fine, nothing happened.” I nodded. “Okay, follow me to the cool down room, want to check out if your really okay.”
“Nick what you did was dangerous, jumping into a fight like that. Why did you do that?” I picked up the microphone. “Because my girl was there.” People began to whistle. “Your girl is here today?” I nodded. “Was she involved in the fight?” “No and if she was I wouldn’t be here answering these stupid questions.” I placed my mic down. People started to cheer. “You would be doing what then?” I got frustrated. I picked the mic up. “Brother what do you think what I would be doing if someone touch my girl, not answering these questions that’s for sure.” People started to laugh. “Don’t know that’s why I am asking you Nick.” I shook my head, placing the mic down.
I sat in the car, Y/N sitting next to me. “You okay?” “Yeah I’m okay.” I placed a kiss against her temple. She layer her head against my shoulder. “You did a great tonight.” She grabbed my hand and carefully traced over my bruised knuckles. “Next time your there in the octagon, I’m not leaving you there alone by these idiots.” She giggles softly. “Nick, nothing happened.” “I know but if something does happened, I’ll will not forgive myself, your my girl.” I pulled her closer to me. “I want you to be safe, that’s my job to keep you safe.” I placed a kiss on her head. “But I am safe with you, you never failed doing that.” She kissed my cheek carefully. “I love you.” She whispered at me. “I love you.” I whispered back while hugging her close.
A blind date why on earth would I go on a blind date? My really good friend named Nick (killshot) set me up on one. So if I didn't know the person I probably saw them on his IG or knew him from MMA.
Kill👊 : he's in a baseball cap it's black and black shirt and jeans
Y: what is he on the run? 🙄😂
Kill👊: shut up! He's there
"Y/n?" I turned around Nate. Now I know Nate Diaz "Yeah! Nate?" "Yeah!" He smiled and shook my waiting hand "I hope the place is okay" it was a cute cafe in Stockton "it's great! it's perfect" I smiled.
He opened the door for me "thank you!" "How many?" The hostesses asked I held up two "just two". He waited for me to sit then sat across from me. We both ordered our drinks "what do you do?" He asked "I'm an author and a photographer" "wow" "not very exciting" I shrugged he shook his head "it is! What do you write?" I bit my lip kinda embarrassing "dark romance" "whats dark about it?like what does it mean?" His brows went together "like biker or-r mafia" he chuckled "what?" I added "you're blushing" he said as our drinks got set in front of us, I covered my face "it's okay its cute" I blushed harder.
"you do UFC right?" I said he nodded "well did i'm not on a contract, I did a boxing match kinda free to do whatever I want," I nod "I'm planning on doing a tournament in New York" "when?" "Next weekend" "I'll be in the city...if you're comfortable with it I'd love to do some photos" "that would be awesome! I was looking for a photographer!" I smiled "I'd love to".
"Have you been in Stockton for a while?" He asked "three years was in Socal before that...You?". It kinda sucked I was asking questions I already knew "my whole life" I nodded "nice!".
"so um could I get your number?" He asked "if you want it of course" he smiled and handed me his phone. I smiled
Y/n ☺️
I handed him his phone, he smirked "I'll text you tonight" "I'll be waiting". I shouldn't have said that I thought walking to my car.
following his loss to Usman Nurmagomedov, Smooth Benson Henderson calls it a career. And what a career it was. UFC and WEC champion. Bellator WW and LW contender. Has one of the toughest resumes in MMA history. Just an all around tough S.O.B. An amazing career from one of the best lightweights in the history of the sport. Hats off to Bendo.
Benson winning the UFC title and beating guys like Jim Miller and Frankie Edgar helped prime guys like Nick Diaz, Eddie Alvarez, Gilbert Melendez, Justin Gaethje, Michael Chandler, etc. to come in with some cache. If you were a Strikeforce fan or a Bellator fan who wanted to argue someone could come in to the UFC after Pride FC and be a championship level fighter immediately, Bendo was a prime example.
As Hardy implied, that really has been UFC’s “style” when dealing with a fighter that wants to get free from their contract, especially in years past. The UFC anti-trust lawsuit previously revealed former matchmaker Joe Silva’s harsh negotiation tactics used to keep leverage and extend contracts.
“I lowballed them on purpose the first offer knowing they would turn it down,” Silva’s emails showed about previous negotiations with Nate’s brother Nick Diaz. “How bout I come back with 29+29, 32+32, 35+35, 38+38. If they turn it down I put him in a prelim against a really tough guy for his last fight.”
Documents also showed Silva himself saying that turning down those intentional bad offers “allows us to extend his contract.”
MMA fighters will never unionize for a number of reasons, but they desperately need a union because of things like this.