"He was in there talking s***" - UFC lightweight Roosevelt Roberts on sparring with Nate Diaz when he was an amateur

​

Roosevelt Roberts (left), Nate Diaz (right) [Images Courtesy: @thepredator_roberts @natediaz209 on Instagram]

UFC lightweight prospect Roosevelt Roberts is currently scheduled to compete on the undercard of the upcoming Fight Night event, UFC: Cannonier vs. Gastelum. Roberts takes on a fellow up-and-comer in Ignacio Bahamondes.

In the build-up to the fight, Roosevelt Roberts sat down for an exclusive interview with Sportskeeda MMA's Andrew Whitelaw, where he revealed that during his days as an amateur, he put in some sparring rounds with iconic UFC welterweight Nate Diaz.

Roosevelt Roberts stated the following:

​

​

"When I was an amateur and I used to train up North in Stockton, like Lathrop area, I actually sparred Nate Diaz in boxing one time. I didn't have no fights, I was just coming up... That s*** was a hell of a time."

Roosevelt Roberts went on to reveal that Nate Diaz's signature trash talk is not limited to the UFC octagon:

​

​

"He let me spar with him, I didn't have no type of experience," stated Roberts. "He was in there talking s***, I was laughing the whole time. It was pretty cool. He's a pretty cool dude for sure."

---

Roosevelt Roberts' thoughts on Nate Diaz's MMA career/legacy

Roosevelt Roberts revealed that how Nate Diaz has handled himself as a professional MMA fighter over the years is what he aspires to replicate in his own fighting career:

​

​

"I think he's a legend, I like the way he go about it you know, like that's how I want to be about it. Don't really care about anything else, just wanna get in there and get paid. Do it my way you know. So yeah, I really think he's a legend you know, and one day he'll be in the Hall of Fame, him and his brother."

Roosevelt Roberts also discussed his upcoming fight with Ignacio Bahamondes, breaking down where his opponents strengths lie, as well as how he plans to pick up the victory:

​

​

"I think he's pretty good. He got some good striking. He can take a punch. You know, I think it's gonna be a great fight between both of us. I think both of us have got stuff to prove still. He's coming off a loss and I'm coming off two losses... So I think it's gonna be like a 50k bonus fight. I'm going in there, putting the pressure on him and getting the finish."

Check out our full exclusive interview with Roosevelt Roberts below:

​