Joe Lauzon loves him some Nate Diaz.

The pair of UFC lightweights emerged in 2007 as castmates on the fifth season of The Ultimate Fighter, but have somehow avoided having to scrap.

Hosting a Q&A session Tuesday, a fan told Lauzon he'd asked Diaz why the two haven't been booked. According to Diaz, he just plain likes Joe too much.

"I also love Nate," Lauzon replied. "I think it's kind of a natural thing that we'll probably fight at some point, maybe. But I would always try to fight someone else before I fought Nate. Just because I like Nate a lot. It would probably be an exciting fight, but I like Nate too much."

Diaz was a particular point of interest to fans and Lauzon spent a goodly portion of the chat just telling Diaz stories.

"I love Nate Diaz," said Lauzon. "We were both on [The Ultimate Fighter] together. We were on opposite teams. He actually arm-locked me the very first day for the tryouts. The tryouts were to pick teams and I got matched up with Nate. I hadn't done jiu jitsu in two months because my brother, we don't get along so well sometimes, we were doing kickboxing sparring and he double-legged me through the ropes into a hard piece of metal.

"I had a huge lump and I couldn't do anything off my back for two months. So the first day, it's the first time I've done any sort of jiu jitsu and of course I'm paired up with Nate and he arm-locks me right off the bat. It was such a nice arm lock."

Despite his propensity to start brawls in casinos, Diaz is also the type to sprint across a lobby to hug your mom and dad. Well, Lauzon's at least. If you've got beef with Nate, you've got beef with Joe.

"Everyone's like, 'He kind of looks like a jerk.' Lauzon said of Diaz. "He seems like a dick.' I try to explain that the Diaz brothers don't like doing media, but if you met Nate Diaz you would love him. Nate is the man. I wish it would come off a little bit clearer how awesome those guys are. He'd give you the shirt off his back. The 209 don't give a f**k."

5 MUST-READ STORIES

Pretty good. Chad Mendes and Frankie Edgar have verbally agreed to fight in the main event of The Ultimate Fighter 22 Finale on Dec. 11.

The Time is Now, Again. UFC's "Go Big" event on Sept. 4 features Ronda Rousey, Conor McGregor, and many headliners.

'It will feel great to shut this guy up.' Junior dos Santos says he hopes Alistair Overeem "doesn't fail the drug test this time."

'I'm going to dominate this fight.' Luke Rockhold is predicting to finish UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman with "a left kick or a left hand."

Hard feelings. WSOF exec Ali Abdel-Aziz calls Bellator lightweight Melvin Guillard is "the world champion of tapping."

MEDIA STEW

UFC 191: Extended Preview.

The BMF crew goes through their mail.

What to watch for at Bellator 141.

Holly Holm won't be talking trash to Ronda Rousey.

Saku still out there trolling his training partners.

Shinya Aoki doesn't look happy about this ride.

Long watches.

...

TWEETS

Finally.

Agora é oficial. Dia 19 de dezembro em Orlando FL Vocês sabem que eu não escolho adversário, mas... https://t.co/VSuKDHCPOj — Junior Dos Santos (@junior_cigano) August 25, 2015

Beef.

If anybody has a question about me and Melvins sparring sessions contact greg jackson and he will tell you. He remembers. @arielhelwani — Ali Abdelaziz (@AliAbdelaziz00) August 25, 2015

@AliAbdelaziz00 @arielhelwani Ali has been training with us for a very long time... I've seen him submit many high level grapplers ;-) — Renzo_Gracie_BJJ (@RenzoGracieBJJ) August 25, 2015

Hungry.

Congrats.

Big news to announce today a slight delay in my return to the octagon! I planned on spending as much... https://t.co/8aOzOfhOtB — Alexis Davis (@AlexisDavisMMA) August 25, 2015

I'd love to fight Alexia, but I heard that she's pregnant!Cheers!If I may choose,I'd like to fight my rival @MieshaTate @seanshelby @ufc — Bethe (@bethecorreia) August 25, 2015

In the movies.





Very cool.

Not impressed.

Ayo Rock this ain't to hard! @officialslystallone Haha #slownsteady @christinahenry7 @mark_henry7 A video posted by Frankie Edgar (@frankieedgar) on Aug 25, 2015 at 7:20pm PDT





Outstanding.

My dog #dog #Hooch A photo posted by nickdiaz209 (@nickdiaz209) on Aug 25, 2015 at 9:21pm PDT





FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Announced yesterday (Aug. 25 2015)

Frankie Edgar vs. Chad Mendes at The Ultimate Fighter 22 Finale

Magomed Mustafaev vs. Joe Proctor at UFC 194

Junior Dos Santos vs. Alistair Overeem at UFC on FOX 17

Danny Castillo vs. Nik Lentz at UFC on FOX 17

Found something you'd like to see in the Morning Report? Just hit me up on Twitter @SaintMMA and we'll include it in tomorrow's column.