Mike Perry Stops Nate Diaz in MMA Return
Perry wins the second-round stoppage
Nate Diaz returned to mixed martial arts on May 16, 2026, against Mike Perry at MVP MMA 1 in Inglewood, California. Perry won by second-round TKO at 5:00 after Diaz’s corner stopped the fight. Most Valuable Promotions recorded the outcome as a stoppage following the second round.
Diaz returns after nearly four years
The bout was scheduled for five rounds at welterweight and formed part of the Netflix card headlined by Ronda Rousey and Gina Carano. Diaz had not competed in MMA since submitting Tony Ferguson at UFC 279 in September 2022. Between those appearances, he boxed Jake Paul and Jorge Masvidal.
Perry pressed forward through a physical opening round and continued attacking in the second. Both fighters were bloodied by the later exchanges. Perry dropped Diaz near the end of the round, and the corner chose not to send Diaz back out for the third.
The loss was Diaz’s first MMA appearance in nearly four years and Perry’s return to the sport after focusing on bare-knuckle boxing. The result is a second-round TKO win for Perry; any discussion of a rematch remains separate from the official record.
MVP’s official report gives the stoppage time as 5:00 of the second round and identifies the corner as the reason the fight ended. That distinction matters because Perry did not win by a referee stoppage during the round. The official record calls it a second-round TKO after the corner stopped the bout.
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