You’d think Nate Diaz would be made up at getting a shot at gold.
This June, Diaz will be fighting 10 years in the UFC. Before his promotional debut, he was throwing plenty of bombs [5-2 record].
He has been around a while but his two fights against Conor McGregor in 2016 elevated into the highest echelon of current UFC stars. Diaz pocketed $2m to take on McGregor in a welterweight rematch at UFC 202.
‘The Notorious’ evened the score and went on to beat Eddie Alvarez and claim the UFC lightweight belt. Diaz hasn’t fought since he lost that points decision to McGregor.
Now that the Dubliner is on his hiatus from the UFC, attempts have been made to put Diaz in a main event on a big pay-per-view card. Only issue is, Diaz is not budging. He wants the right man or the right stack of bills.
On a recent episode of the 5ive Rounds podcast, Diaz told Brett Okamoto he had no interest in fighting Tony Ferguson for an interim lightweight belt. He declared:
“If you’re trying to pull me out of a normal life right now, I’m not doing it for a fake title at 155lbs.
“I told them I’d take the fight at 165lbs, no belt. I’m not interested in losing a bunch of weight for no reason.”
Diaz insists he is not going begging for any fights and accused UFC president Dana White of trying to argue with him, via the media, to try drag him back into active duty.
Not keen on fighting for what he calls ‘fake gold’, Diaz has another suggestion for the UFC brass.
“If they call me with a nonsense fight, my number is $20 million. You call me with a fight that won’t do me any good, you need to pay me $20 million just to hear that bullshit.
“I have a contract, but that’s only for when I want to fight. That’s how that works, right? Right now, I don’t want to fight nobody.”
Diaz is in no rush at all. That’s a shame but that’s how it is.
