Nate Diaz Sends The UFC $20 Million Ultimatum

Before facing Conor McGregor at UFC 196 on March 5, Nate Diaz claimed he was being held back by his employers. Both he and older brother Nick had voiced their displeasure with UFC contracts long before many other had the guts to do so. Although Nate fought on through his issues, Nick Diaz spent a considerable amount of time inactive while waiting for a better offer from the UFC. Fast forward to present day, and both men are superstars. Their cult following has expanded to the point the UFC can no longer ‘hold them back,’ as Nate often put it.

When Diaz was victorious over McGregor at UFC 196, he punched his ticket to another massive payday in August. Although McGregor won a narrow decision at UFC 202, Diaz’s stock had risen if anything. Denied an immediate rematch, Nate decided to follow his older brother’s lead circa 2012 and wait for a big offer. Unfortunately that offer is yet to come, or at least be made public.

Nate’s Ultimatum

According to a report by Ariel Helwani, Nate Diaz isn’t planning on fighting for chump change. Here’s what the popular Stockton bad boy told ‘The MMA Hour’ host:

“I’m only fighting at lightweight for a big fight or 20 million just to take the call,” Diaz told MMAFighting.com “Until then, I’m just living my life.”

Considering he made a disclosed $2.5 million from his fights in 2016, Diaz could ‘live his life’ for some time before actually needing to fight. Will the UFC eventually cave like they did for Nick Diaz? When the promotion finally did give Diaz that big offer, he came through with an amazing rivalry against Georges St-Pierre.

Lightweight

Currently at 155 pounds there are only a few fights to make within the title picture. Obviously Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson need to finally square off. Outside of that, the only real scrap to make is Nate Diaz vs….Eddie Alvarez? Then again, McGregor’s recent comments about possibly coming back in early 2017 lead to some interesting options.