Brendan Schaub has continued his attack on UFC legend Nate Diaz as he insists that he would easily defeat him in a fight.
The former UFC heavyweight last fought in December of 2014, when he was knocked out by Travis Browne. He has since transitioned into a successful podcast and stand-up comedy career, and has no desire to fight again.
But when Diaz took aim at him for crying over the reports from former interim heavyweight champion Shane Carwin's struggles after retirement, Schaub finally defended himself. And he made his case during a recent podcast episode about the realities of he and Diaz if they were to meet.
Part of the ongoing Anti-Trust lawsuit against the UFC is a document which features the testimonies of a number of former fighters from the promotion. One that stood out to Brendan Schaub was that of former interim heavyweight champion Shane Carwin, whom he knew while coming through the ranks.
"Despite having a degree in engineering from the Colorado School of Mines, I have been unable to maintain adequate focus to hold down an engineering job," Carwin wrote.
"I face serious challenges in meeting basic everyday expenses for food, shelter, and transportation and in basic life skills necessary to function. These funds would also allow me to obtain the healthcare I need and keep a roof over my head and food on my table.
"The sad reality is that funds years from now may be of no use to me. I desperately need these funds now."
Schaub read Carwin's story during a recent episode of his podcast, and was moved to tears by what had seen. "Shane is smart amongst smart people," he noted.
"Shane got a degree from the School of Mines. That's the Harvard of the f***ing Midwest. School of Mines is so hard to get into and he dominated that s***. Dominated. One of the smartest people you will ever meet in Shane Carwin. He can barely tie his f***ing shoes. He's not doing great."
Schaub, who is often a figure of ridicule in the stand-up comedy and MMA worlds, was met with a much more favorable reaction when his comments went viral on social media. Many fans were moved by his reaction as much as what he had read.
However, one person who wasn't so impressed was former lightweight title contender and long-time rival of Schaub's; Nate Diaz. It is unclear if Schaub's teary podcast is what riled up Diaz, but he took to X to mock him in a seemingly random message.
"Brendan the big ol p**** Schaub," Diaz tweeted. This enraged the former heavyweight, who insisted that he would easily take care of the Stockton brawler if they were to meet in a grappling contest due to the size disparity.
"Oooh buddy. I prob got 20lbs on you so not too far off," he replied. "I'll snap your neck. Set up a grappling match and let me know how it goes for you. Have one of your handlers read this tweet and get back to me."
The feud between Diaz and Schaub dates back to 2017 when the smaller fighter took umbrage with something the heavyweight said during the build-up to Conor McGregor vs Floyd Mayweather. He was working on the broadcast, and the pair had a run-in backstage.
However, Schaub has famously refused to engage in any sort of fight talk or trash talk since retiring from fighting. He insists that there is almost no amount of money that could make him return to competition after taking too much damage to his head during his fighting and football careers.
But he has taken a different tact with Diaz, slamming the fighter again during the latest episode of his podcast. The fan favorite is known as one of the toughest men on the planet, and even had a UFC belt made for him when he fought Jorge Masvidal in 2019 declaring the winner the 'Baddest MF' in MMA.
But Schaub noted that his training, which at one point had him as a top ten UFC heavyweight, coupled with the monstrous size difference, would mean that he would very easily defeat Diaz in a street fight.
"That's social media, this isn't real," Schaub noted in an explosive rant. "Because here's what's real, I will f*** you up - that's real. I'm not asking for this. I don't want to f*** him up, I'm not trying to f*** him up. End of the day if he walked in right now and I said Chin, Case [his producers] everyone leave?
"Only one of us is going to walk out unscathed and it's me. Every f***ing day of the week, 365 days a year, I will snap his f***ing neck. I know, I know, what's his area code? 209? I get all that, very cool. None of that is real.
"Oh but he did great against Donald Cerrone? Did you see him against Leon Edwards? I get it, he's had some great fights, tough dude. I don't give a f***. I'm 245lb, trained black belt, top ten UFC heavyweight in the world at one point.
"I'm not out of shape, I'm a f***ing beast when it comes down to it. I know, I tell jokes, I do crazy s***, I've made some mistakes, I got knocked out by Nogueira, Fighter and The Kid, silly dude, all that, I get all of that.
"At the end of the day, the way this works, I'm not a civilian like the rest of his goons around him, I'm not this fake gangster, I don't go looking for fights. I know I'm tough, I don't need to get on Twitter every day and blast it out because I'm insecure because of whatever s*** he has going on with childhood trauma."
The ultimate crux of the issue for Schaub is that fighters should be supporting one another when they make public statements about their struggles when their careers are over. And he noted that he would be an outspoken support of Nate or his brother Nick Diaz if they followed in Carwin's footsteps.
He added: "The difference between you and I, because Shane is a brother to me, is if your actual f***ing brother came out and started getting emotional, or you started coming out and getting emotional about your brother's issues with CTE and fighting - because we know he has his issues, I would support you.
"Even though you've been a d*** to me the entire time. That's what I'd do, that's what men do, bud. I wouldn't bash you, and your entire narrative, 'f*** the man', bud you've been paid more than 99 per cent of the fighters, cut the bulls***.
"You're no different than Colby Covington and this MAGA s***, it's all fake, bud. You're not fooling anybody, I've seen how the sausage is made, you're not tough to me. I know tough guys, tough guys don't get on the internet and tweet at another grown man who would beat the s*** out of them.
"I'm crying, getting emotional, because my friend of 20 f***ing years is having major issues, suicidal thoughts. That's p****, that's the difference between you and I, I'm not some moron who buys into your tough guy narrative - I don't give a f*** that you're from [Stockton].
"That's your biggest thing? That's your narrative, I know tough guys from [Stockton], what are you going to do Nate? Volume punch me, motherf***er? Outgrapple me? In what f***ing sense? What world are you living in? This is the real world.
"If you're doing this because you fancy yourself at fisticuffs, you want to grapple me, I'm not hard to get a hold of. Pull up, you can come with all your boys, but what a real man would do is pull up one-on-one, I don't have a posse, I don't need one.
"I'll drop my kid off at practice, roll over, twist your f***ing neck off and pick him up on time and unscathed with a diet coke. That's how this goes for the rest of your f***ing life, bud, whenever I want.
"I didn't ask for this, I don't want to do this, this isn't what I do. I don't like drama, I didn't ask for this, and again, if you came out I would support you. I support fighters."