Diaz Anticipates Evolved ‘Bully’

“The Ultimate Fighter” Season 5 winner Nate Diaz recognizes he did not face a primed Gray Maynard when he submitted the three-time collegiate All-American in the semi-finals of the Spike TV reality series two years ago.

The 24-year-old Cesar Gracie disciple expects to see an evolved and improved version of Maynard when the two lightweights lock horns in the UFC Fight Night 20 main event this Monday at the Patriot Center in Fairfax, Va.

“I think Gray has definitely gotten better since the last time I fought him, but I’ve gotten better, too,” Diaz said during a Friday teleconference. “It might make a difference; it might not make a difference. I’m ready to win.”

Maynard enters the duel with a potential crack at lightweight champion B.J. Penn on the line. The undefeated 30-year-old has won six consecutive fights, five of them decisions, and has emerged as one of the sport’s top 155-pound fighters. Diaz has kept a close watch on the man he submitted with a guillotine choke in order to reach “The Ultimate Fighter 5” final.

“I keep my eye on everybody in the division, so, yeah, I’ve watched him,” Diaz said. “All in all, he does the same type stuff to win each fight.”

In advance of the rematch, Diaz trained with the usual suspects at the Cesar Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Academy: Strikeforce middleweight champion Jake Shields, Strikeforce lightweight titleholder Gilbert Melendez and his older brother, Nick Diaz. None of them carry Maynard’s wrestling pedigree.

“I train with the same camp all the time,” Diaz said. “We had collegiate wrestlers come in, all kinds of bad asses and champion wrestlers.”

Diaz admits having his older brother, a UFC veteran and Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, at his side provides him with an invaluable resource of knowledge and experience.

“I’ve been training with Nick for years,” he said. “We learned a lot from his losses. He tells me what to do and what not to do from where he messed up. Nick’s the one who got me started training. Besides me, he’s one of my biggest critics. He plays a big role.”

Despite Maynard’s high-profile wins over Roger Huerta, AMA Fight Club standout Jim Miller and the world-ranked Frankie Edgar, Diaz openly questioned his resume and his place near the top of the lightweight division.

“I think all this talk about him getting a title fight is because he had so many wins in a row,” Diaz said. “If he fought as much as I had [since the show], I think he would have lost already. I think I’ve beaten better people than he’s beaten.”

Other notes from the teleconference included:

• Diaz kept up his verbal assault on one-time teammate Tyson Griffin, who now trains alongside Maynard at Xtreme Couture Mixed Martial Arts in Las Vegas. “I’d like to fight him no matter what. He’s a bitch. A lot of guys go jump around from team to team. He was with us, and he acted like he was ahead of me back in the day. He got handled most of the time in training. There’s nothing Tyson Griffin can say except I used to [expletive] him up,” Diaz said;

• “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 8 winner Efrain Escudero has completely healed from a rib injury that forced him out of a bout against Jeremy Stephens in April. The 23-year-old has competed only once -- a technical knockout victory over American Top Team’s Cole Miller at UFC 103 -- since he appeared on the show. Escudero claims he does not covet his unbeaten record. “I put my record aside when I step in the Octagon. I love to get punched in the face, and I love punching people back. I let the fight take care of itself,” he said;

• Evan Dunham, who will meet Escudero in the UFC Fight Night 20 co-main event, plans to permanently relocate to Las Vegas after the bout. The undefeated Brazilian jiu-jitsu brown belt trains full-time at Xtreme Couture but has spent his time between fights back home in Oregon;

• Maynard has not even contemplated a potential fight with Penn, who announced earlier this week that he expects to defend his lightweight crown again in April. “I haven’t even dealt with that. I’ve got Nate. That’s what’s on my mind all the time. I’ll deal with whatever they’re talking about on Jan. 12,” he said.