Leave it to the Diaz brothers to take something as simple as a bout announcement and turn it into a point of controversy. Just the other day, rumors began circulating that the UFC was planning a return to welterweight for Nate Diaz. His opponent? Matt Brown. The stage? The UFC’s upcoming UFC 189 super-card featuring a pair of title bouts and headlined by Jose Aldo vs. Conor McGregor. The rumors were quickly confirmed and the bout is already up on the UFC’s website.
Easy enough, right? But, Nate has already pumped the brakes, claiming that he’s looking for a bout against Anthony Pettis and isn’t interested in fighting Matt Brown. Now Brown is returning fire, over Instagram, to show Nate that the contract is already signed:
*Matt Brown has since removed the Instagram photo from his account. Below is a screenshot of the post, via BJPENN.com.
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Strangely enough, the contract appears to show a 5 round fight, on a card with two title bouts already planned. Brown didn’t seem overly concerned when the discrepancy was pointed out to him, however, telling fans “I’m guessing it’s a typo. Either way I’m down. The more rounds the better.”
Of course none of this is a guarantee that the fight actually happens. The UFC has found themselves caught out before, when they announce fights before getting both sides 100% committed, most notably between Gilbert Melendez and Khabib Nurmagomedov. It remains to be seen, in this instance, whether the UFC will actually be able to get both men in the cage, come July 11th.
As of now, here’s how the card looks:
Robbie Lawler vs. Rory MacDonald
Dennis Bermudez vs. Jeremy Stephens
Gunnar Nelson vs. John Hathaway
Brandon Thatch vs. John Howard
Mike Swick vs. Alex Garcia
Matt Brown vs. Nate Diaz
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