Nate Diaz is a man that marches to the beat of his own drum, even if he’s offered millions to march to someone else’s.
There’s many examples of this throughout the younger Diaz brother’s career, but a recent one is Nate’s decision to turn down an offer to return to the UFC where he could have faced Conor McGregor for what would have to be the biggest paycheck of his career. Diaz said no, and now he’s set to face Mike Perry in the third headline fight on MVP’s first MMA card this Saturday May 16th.
That’s a fun fight, don’t get us wrong. But the McGregor trilogy fight blows it out of the water. So why did Diaz pass on that and a return to UFC?
“One hundred percent I did [consider going back to UFC],” Diaz told Ariel Helwani. “I was pretty close because they’ve always been great since I left too, and they met up with me and talked to me and we had some talks and it was good to see them and good to be back. And wheels were spinning just for an MMA fight, an MMA return, and getting back to what I do. And I know that they wanted the Conor fight right now and that’s not what I’m [about].”
“I’m like, I’m not trying to be a comeback story for Conor,” he continued. “I want Conor, back. And then I want him to be f–king showing people he’s whipping ass. Then that’s the guy I want. I don’t wanna be fighting a guy that they don’t know about, because I know he’s gonna come back and do good. I don’t need him to do it on me.”
Diaz is also clearly hesitant about re-signing with the UFC, where he spent a lot of time on the bench as he clashed with execs over opponents.
“Once I get locked in, I’m gonna be locked in the whole time for the next forever,” Diaz said. “You know what I’m saying? You ain’t getting out of those contracts. I already been in them … It was hard to jump back in after I tried so hard for so many years to get out. I can’t just jump right back in. At least there’s Perry out here. I could get this done. So I’ve done everything on the outside before going back in.”
Diaz says he was willing to return and fight Charles Oliveira, but the UFC said no.
“That’s who I wanted,” he said. “Alright, I’m a go back and get that that [BMF] belt. I’m gonna fight this motherf–ker. And, they’re like, not interested in that. They wanna give me Conor, and I’m like, I want to fight Conor, but right now. It’s not the time. Everything’s about timing. You know? It’s not the time for that.”
