UFC 263: Nate Diaz lights up Twitter by rocking Leon Edwards late

Tom Gatto

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UFC 263: Nate Diaz lights up Twitter by rocking Leon Edwards late image

Nate Diaz got one chance to steal a win Saturday night. After being battered and bloodied by Leon Edwards for four rounds, Diaz landed a clean right-left combo late in the fifth and sent Edwards staggering backward.

At that point, the prudent thing would have been to press forward, throw more strikes and try to complete the rally. Instead, Diaz did this:

Edwards survived the round and walked out of the Octagon with a unanimous decision victory in the welterweight bout.

UFC 263: Live results, highlights

Diaz appeared only slightly disappointed with taking the L as Joe Rogan interviewed him afterward. There was business to attend to.

Diaz's seeming lack of a killer instinct had Twitter taking its shots, but his ability to go the distance and almost win through all the blood earned him respect:

Tom Gatto

Tom Gatto Photo

Tom Gatto joined The Sporting News as a senior editor in 2000 after 12 years at The Herald-News in Passaic, N.J., where he served in a variety of roles including sports editor, and a brief spell at APBNews.com in New York, where he worked as a syndication editor. He is a 1986 graduate of the University of South Carolina.