With Conor McGregor awaiting the birth of his child and pursuing that Floyd Mayweather bout, the biggest superstar the UFC have at their disposal right now is arguably Nate Diaz.
Ever since he punched McGregor’s face into his arms to lock in that rear-naked choke at UFC 196, the world has been taking note of the Stockton native.
Beating the biggest superstar in the sport so comprehensively on such short notice was an incredible achievement, but after the fact it seemed like Dana White was making excuses for his vanquished cash-cow. Shortly after that memorable night in Vegas, the UFC president dropped the following line about the main event to Hot 97 in New York:
“They’re weighing in at 170. The night of the fight, Diaz comes in at 190.”
When the welterweight do-over was booked for UFC 202, a lot of the build up was focused around how monstrously huge the man who had just three welterweight bouts in his career up until that point was. Diaz wasn’t a fan of this angle that was being spun, as he explained in a special edition of the MMA Hour on Wednesday.
“I never got a compliment for whooping the golden child’s ass. All I did was get dissed for being the fucking 200 lb monster who fucking Conor came back with adversity and whipped my ass. I don’t think that happened, but they’re fooling everybody pretty good into believing that.”
“How, all of a sudden, am I a lightweight when Dana White was spinning how I was a lightweight and praised Conor for fighting my big ass? I’m 174 right now eating as much as I want. Are you kidding me? I want a little respect from somebody over there.”
Diaz also addressed White’s frustrated response to the plethora of fighters trying to secure their own money fight. White stated that Conor McGregor was ‘the guy’ and ‘if you’re not him, shut up!’
No one can accuse Diaz of begging for money fights. In his eyes, he is a marquee payday for the vast majority of fighters on the roster. That’s why, he feels, fighters like Tony Ferguson and Eddie Alvarez are gunning to fight him.
“Unless you’re him? Well, I’m like, ‘Unless you’re me too. I ain’t asking for no money fights because, you know what, I am the money fight. The money’s in my contract. That’s why they want me to fight Ferguson.”
The proof of this for Diaz, aside the PPV numbers for his last two fights, are the encounters he has had with some of the stars of the showbusiness world.
“All the actors you meet, the rappers and actresses and they’re like fascinated by you. How is this person that you watch on TV, probably the most famous person you could think of, looking at you like dude, asking you about fights? I’m like, naw! I’m a superstar, straight up. A lot of fighters who aren’t could be, but nobody’s spinning it like that.”
Despite getting ‘no love’ from the UFC’s PR department, Diaz is one of those rare fighters who’s managed to break into the mainstream. Earlier this year, he appeared on both Conan and the Jimmy Kimmel show in the same week, which only came together because of his own PR company.
“How did I get on Conan O’Brien? I fucking got my ass on. Who gets on Conan O’Brien? And not to mention, I did Conan O’Brien and Jimmy Kimmel in the same week. My boy who got me hooked up, shout out to Zack, I found him and he put me on. He told me that was unheard of being on Conan and Kimmel in the same week for actors and shit. I was demanded.”
Considering how often Diaz has been in the headlines, it’s crazy to think that he hasn’t been seen inside the Octagon since August 2016. He believes that this may be an attempt to make him disappear from the public eye, but he’s got news for everyone who thinks he’ll vanish – he’s going absolutely nowhere.
“In one year, I got the two top-selling PPVs in UFC history. They’re trying to give me the cold shoulder, hide me out and let me die off. It’s all good because I’m not going to die off. I’m still right here in the game, I’m still training harder than everybody. I’ve still got people calling. The cannabis industry is fucking blowing money out of their mind.”
