Dana White Slams Critics Of Potential Nate Diaz vs. Khamzat Chimaev Fight
UFC President Dana White slammed critics of his proposed Nate Diaz vs Khamzat Chimaev fight.
“This isn’t a diss. I love Nate Diaz,” White told Barstool Sports. “I love Nick and Nate as much as anybody else does. You get to a point, all of us, in life, in your professional career, in sports, where you get to a point where you’re like, ‘Can I hang here anymore?’
White had brought up the prospect of this fight earlier this week following Chimaev’s dominant performance last weekend at UFC 267 against #11 welterweight Li Jingliang. Many fans and media had frowned upon the matchup as a way of kicking Diaz out the door on the last fight of his contract. White didn’t seem too pleased with those critics.
“Are we looking for less daunting fights in the UFC? Is that what we’re looking to do? That’s just all bullsh*t,” White said. “The guy has had four fights in the UFC! … Devalue him because it’s the last fight on his contract? Does everybody know he just lost his last fight? I don’t know if they knew that. How are you gonna devalue him? What if he loses with somebody else we match him up with? Would he be devalued? How does Khamzat Chimaev devalue him? You know how massive that fight – value is about being in massive fights that people care about. Fights that, when you make a fight and you announce it, there’s this buzz about the fight and everybody’s going crazy. Do you think that Nate Diaz vs. Khamzat Chimaev is not that fight?
“Here’s the moral of the story: all these people are f*cking morons and have no idea what they’re talking about. I actually run the biggest f*cking combat sports business on planet f*cking Earth, so shut the f*ck up and let me do my job.” (Transcribed by MMA Fighting)
Diaz himself didn’t seem too pleased with the prospect of this fight. A fighter of Diaz’s caliber on the last fight of his contract should have the right to call his shot. Most fans and pundits would oblige.
How do you feel about Dana White trying to book Nate Diaz vs Khamzat Chimaev?
