Yesterday, Nate Diaz (20-13) appeared on a special episode of The MMA Hour to discuss his UFC situation. As many know, Diaz has been put on ice by the promotion and has now gone over a year once again since fighting.
However, Diaz has been trying to get back inside the octagon since the end of last year. There’s a problem though and that is Diaz’s contract situation. Diaz has one fight left on his current UFC deal and there’s been a game of chicken that’s been going on.
However, it’s starting to feel more like a hostage situation from the outside looking in. Diaz has wanted out of his contract and he’s been trying to fight the final fight on his deal for a while. He’s wanted a fight with Dustin Poirier, but the UFC hasn’t been inclined to make it happen.
Per Diaz, the UFC has wanted to keep him until they could make the trilogy happen with Conor McGregor. However, McGregor is still healing from his broken leg, and Diaz is adamant that he wants to fight now.
With that being his position, Diaz said the only fight the UFC has offered him is Khamzat Chimaev. It’s a horrible matchup for him and it’s a fight that makes zero sense. However, Diaz says he still accepted the fight because he wants out of his deal.
Resigning with the UFC?
For the first time, yesterday’s interview was the first time that Diaz hinted that he could resign with the UFC. Diaz told Ariel Helwani, “I might just re-sign after that, who knows? But I need out to know what I want to do.”
Diaz is one of the biggest stars in the sport and I can promise you the UFC would like to retain his services. The promotion has tried to extend his contract in the past as a condition to giving him the fights he wanted.
However, Diaz’s hard position of not resigning has resulted in the UFC standing firm in only offering Khamzat Chimaev. The situation needs to be resolved and honestly, the promotion just needs to get a fight done for Diaz and let him test the market.
I think there’s a legit 50/50 shot that Diaz would come back if he hit the market especially if he’s already saying he’s open to it. However, he’s very firm in wanting to see what else is out there and you can’t blame him for that. It’s horrible optics for the promotion and the longer this drags, the worse it looks.