Wedensday afternoon, UFC president Dana White revealed that he had recently offered a fight to two-time former Welterweight contender Nick Diaz. According to White, he proposed a match between Nick and former Bellator Middleweight champion turned 170 lber Hector Lombard. However, Diaz failed to respond to the offer.
After hearing the news, MMA Fighting contracted Diaz to get his side of the story. Nick confirmed that he was offered a fight and stopped responding. He also went on to explain his decision:
“I never considered anything other than to renegotiate my contract or fight (champion) Johny Hendricks,” he said. “All I said was, What am I getting paid? And he said, Let me check your contract. And the last text I got from him was what I would be fighting for. I didn’t consider fighting for that kind of money. I didn’t say anything back to him, right, but usually that means something. I’m not considering even for a second fighting any of those guys for less than $500,000. There’s no way.
“I’m retired. Completely retired. Unless the UFC wants to renegotiate for something I’m happy with or I’m going to be fighting for the world title, which is obviously going to be for something I’m happy with because I’ll make a ton of money.
“The UFC wants me to fight. The people want me to fight. I don’t want me to fight. So if we’re going to need me to fight, we’re going to have to work out the right deal.”
Nick isn’t the only Diaz brother who’s unhappy with his current compensation under the Zuffa umbrella. Earlier this week, Lightweight Nate Diaz also expressed frustration with his current pay. Nick addressed that issue as well:
“You see this stuff about my brother right now? I gotta watch him go through that bullsh*t. It’s kinda harsh. That’s my brother. That’s my fault that he’s even in this. He doesn’t want to fight either, but he’s not going to get a job at Wal-Mart, and he didn’t make a million dollars his last fight. So he doesn’t have a lot of options, and I don’t like that. Something needs to be done about that, especially when you have someone as entertaining as my brother.”
Stay tuned to Bloody Elbow as more develops in this latest tale of the brothers Diaz.
UFC president spoke to assembled media yesterday about his most recent negotiations with Nick Diaz.