Nate Diaz’s post-fight vape pen puffing adds another layer to his legend

The smell that wafted through the air was familiar, but the thought was, “It can’t be …”

Indeed, the rebel spirit of Nate Diaz has been enhanced by his smoking of a vape pen during his post-fight news conference Saturday night.

Following a brutal battle in his narrow majority-decision loss to Conor McGregor at UFC 202, Diaz, 31, explained he was smoking CBD, a derivative of marijuana known as cannabidiol.

“It helps with the healing process and inflammation and things like that, so you want to get these for before or after the fights in training,” Diaz said.

“It’ll make your life a better place.”

While Diaz and his UFC-fighter brother, Nick Diaz, have made no secret of their marijuana use – Nick has said previously he’s possessed a medical marijuana card to treat the effects of attention deficit disorder – the drug has brought him trouble.

In fact, he couldn’t work Nate’s corner Saturday because he hadn’t paid a remaining $75,000 balance for the fine he received for testing positive for marijuana in his January 2015 loss to Anderson Silva.

Nate Diaz was subject to providing a drug-testing sample to the Nevada State Athletic Commission immediately after the fight, before taking to the vape pen, which he puffed on occasionally through his 15-minute talk.

Although he was badly cut up in the face, Diaz took pride that as McGregor headed to the hospital for an inspection of a sore shin that required crutches, he was headed to an after-party at Mandalay Bay’s Light nightclub.

“And my brother’s going to be there, that’s cool,” Diaz said. “They let him in there.”

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