Nate Diaz hasn’t been shy about voicing his displeasure with the UFC in recent months.
The popular Stockton, Calif., native discussed his difficulties dealing with the promotion during an appearance on "The MMA Hour," sounding like a fighter who was ready to fulfill his obligations to the UFC and move on to other endeavors.
“I was trying to get this s—t on the road, but they don’t want me out of contract and they’re keeping me in there and they’re holding me hostage,” Diaz said. “And I want out. That’s my main objective here.”
Diaz last competed at UFC 263, where he suffered suffered a unanimous decision loss to current welterweight No. 1 contender Leon Edwards in June 2021. Since then, he claims the UFC hasn’t come through with a concrete offer for a fight, despite plenty of suggestions from his side.
“They haven’t offered me anybody,” Diaz said. “I’ve been asking for fights since whenever. I asked for a lot of fights. I asked for [Vicente] Luque, Tony Ferguson. I asked for like four or five people, and there was no going there, and then they finally offered me the Khamzat [Chimaev] fight, and I gave them the little, ‘What the f—k.’
“And then I was like, ‘Why not? Let’s just get it done with and get it over with.’ I asked for the Khamzat fight and then all kinds of excuses started happening. But remember I was like I want December, I want January, I want March, I want all these things.”
Diaz thinks the promotion could be holding out for a trilogy fight with Conor McGregor, who is in the process of recovering from a broken leg suffered in a loss to Dustin Poirier in July 2021. There is still no clear timetable for McGregor’s return.
“They don’t want to let me out of my contract,” he said. “They want me to fight Conor. I’m not fighting Conor McGregor right now. Our timelines aren’t matching up. ... You bring yourself back to life, and I’ll be back later.”
Money doesn’t appear to be a sticking point in recent talks. While Diaz didn’t offer specific details regarding his contract, he did claim during the interview he has been offered more than anyone in the UFC makes — with the exception of McGregor.
“When I’m asking for a fight, they offer me more money,” Diaz said. “Then they offer me more money, more money. I’m at a point in my career and my life where I don’t want any more money. I just want to depart. I’m over the whole UFC roster as of right now. All the guys that they can offer or I’m even asking for, everyone’s been used and abused. It’s a recycled division. Lightweight or welterweight division, I feel like there’s nobody worthy. There’s no worthy opponents at the moment.”
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