Dana White: Nate Diaz Doesn’t Want to Fight But Nick Diaz May Be Ready to Return
At least one Diaz brother might be looking for a fight.
That’s according to UFC president Dana White, who gave an update on Nick and Nate Diaz with a surprising twist on which one of them may be looking at a return to action.
It was just a few weeks ago when Nate put out a message on Instagram saying he was plotting a fight for later this year with hopes of booking a matchup by May or June. Unfortunately up until now, there’s been no word on when or if Nate will actually compete and that was confirmed by White when he spoke to TMZ on Friday.
“We’ve been offering [Nate Diaz] fights,” White confirmed. “Guys don’t just come out and say ‘I want fights’ and then we don’t react on it. We’ve been hitting him up since the last time he fought, offering him fights and he’s not interested in fighting. I don’t know why he’s saying it.”
White has expressed his frustration with Nate in the past after offering him several high profile opponents including former champion Eddie Alvarez and interim champion Tony Ferguson. Obviously, Nate would love the chance to face old foe Conor McGregor for a third time after the split a pair of bouts — and millions of dollars in profits — for their first two fights in 2016.
White says a trilogy with McGregor would certainly bring Diaz back but that’s not the matchup that’s on the table at this time.
“I don’t even know what fight he wants,” White said about Nate. “Obviously, if Conor [McGregor] was available, he’d take that fight. It’s a big money fight for sure.”
Now the more interesting news came from White when the subject of Nick Diaz was broached. Nick has been out of action for three years after last competing in 2015 when he face former middleweight champion Anderson Silva.
Since that time, Nick hasn’t really shown much interested in fighting again and for the longest time White seemed to believe that he may never return.
Well for some reason, White is suddenly optimistic that Nick might be ready to return to the Octagon sooner rather than later.
“I think Nick Diaz is interested in fighting right now,” White said. “We’ll see. We’ll see how that plays out. This year, the rest of this year, nothing but great fights coming up. So hopefully we can make a couple of those.”
Given the landscape of star power available in the UFC right now, either Diaz brother would be a welcome addition to the roster and White obviously likes the idea of having one — or both — back in the Octagon this year.
