Nate Diaz Demands Crazy Amount Of Money To Fight Tyron Woodley
Nate Diaz is looking to get paid a bunch of money if he is going to challenge Tyron Woodley for the UFC welterweight title at UFC 219. After being out of action for over a year, there’s a chance that the UFC veteran will make a return to the octagon and it won’t be against UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor for a trilogy fight.
Diaz would have a considerable height advantage (6-foot to 5-9) and reach advantage (77 inches to 74) against Woodley.
It has to be taken into account that Diaz hasn’t fought in 15 months. His last fight came when he suffered a majority decision loss in a rematch with McGregor at UFC 202.
On the flip side, Woodley has gone six straight bouts without a loss since August 2014, which includes two successful title defenses over Stephen Thompson and Demian Maia.
Diaz is demanding $15 million to fight Woodley, which is half of what he demanded to complete his trilogy with McGregor. He understands that Woodley is not the draw that McGregor is on pay-per-view (PPV) thus he is willing to take a pay cut.
The UFC needs a solid main event for UFC 219, and thus, this is the reason that the promotion is attempting to make this fight official.
Diaz’s boxing coach Richard Perez breaks it down for Submission Radio (transcript courtesy of Bloody Elbow):
“The UFC doesn’t want to give Nathan the money. 15 million. Easy. Cause, I mean, he’s a star right now. McGregor can’t even fight right now, he got suspended. And Woodley’s trying to fight everybody. They’re being too greedy with the money right now, it’s hurting a lot of fighters. They’re gonna probably make, oh gosh, pay-per-view is going to be just out there because they’re curious on what Nathan’s going to do with Woodley.
I mean, he’s got the belt. So what? The belt don’t mean nothing anymore. It’s about who you’re fighting (if you want) to make the money. So they’re making big money, they’re pocketing a lot of it. You guys know it too. Oh gosh, it’s ridiculous.”
Keep in mind that one half of the contract was signed earlier this week by Woodley in order to make this fight official.
