Dana White Unsure Of Nate Diaz’s Value Without Conor McGregor
On Wednesday, Nate Diaz discussed various topics in an interview with Ariel Helwani of MMA Fighting including turning down an interim title fight with Tony Ferguson and his take on the Conor McGregor vs. Floyd Mayweather. That same day, UFC President Dana White did an interview with Yahoo Sports, saying he was unsure if either Nate or his brother Nick would ever fight again and that he didn’t think they really wanted to fight.
White has a history of going against what a fighter says. A perfect example of that is former UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre making it clear it about his intentions to come back to MMA, but White insisted St-Pierre didn’t actually want to return because “GSP” insisted on restructuring his contract with the UFC and being an inception to the Reebok sponsorship deal. White strongly believes Diaz doesn’t actually want to fight because he’s already getting the best offer that’s viable from the UFC. White also stated that for Diaz to be worth the kind of money he’s asking for, he would need to accept and win an interim title fight against Ferguson.
“Whatever his deal is, he’s got a pretty good deal,” White said. “I mean, listen, at the end of the day, what is Diaz worth without Conor McGregor? I don’t know. The kid isn’t in a position for pay-per-view or any of that type of [stuff]. But this could put him in a position. If he fought Tony Ferguson, it would be for the interim title. Obviously, if you held the interim title, you would get a piece of the pay-per-view. Diaz has to put himself in a position to make the pay-per-view money.”
The UFC is desperate for stars right now as they need to have big fights to sell pay-per-view events. They are so desperate that they offered St-Pierre a middleweight title bout against current champ Michael Bisping despite the fact that “GSP” has not fought in nearly four years and there being a backlogged division with worthy title contenders. Diaz, already a known and well-liked fighter beforehand, became one of the biggest stars in the UFC after defeating McGregor last year via submission. White still insists that this is an issue of Diaz not wanting to fight and he won’t force them into fighting.
“It doesn’t frustrate me at all [that they’re inactive] because I’ve learned that you can’t make people fight, man. It’s the same thing when people ask me, ‘What if this guy retires,’ or ‘What if that guy retires?’ This is a business that, your head has to be in this game. You have to want to become a world champion. You have to want to fight. You have to go through everything it takes to get into the cage. It doesn’t frustrate me at all. We’ll keep offering the Diaz brothers fights until one of them says yes, or they never fight again.
“It doesn’t change my life one way or another. People really like the Diaz brothers. When they get in there, they’re tough and gritty, and they mix it up. They’re fun to watch, and their interviews are fun, and funny. They’re popular guys. But at the end of the day, people are excited about guys who want to win world titles, and they want to find out who the best fighters in the world are in each weight class. Those are the things that sell and those are the things that people are interested in.”
