It’s fair to say that negotiations between Nate Diaz and the UFC are not going so hot.
One can safely arrive at this conclusion by the latest Nate Diaz news to hit the streets, which is that the 209 resident has publicly informed Dana White and UFC Executive Vice President Hunter Campbell that he wants out.
Saturday afternoon, shortly before the UFC Columbus card kicked off, Diaz put out the following tweets:
“I Would like to request to be released from the @ufc@danawhite@hunter I apologize for asking online but u don’t give me a fight asap I got shit to do.”
“Mother fuckers be crying cause they get dropped from the ufc I can’t pay out this bitch.”
Diaz has been venting out his frustrations with the UFC brass for some time now. The bulk of his grievances have been about his requested fight against Dustin Poirier continuing to stall, despite him and Poirier not only agreeing to fight but constantly lobbying for the bout to happen, only to apparently be met by crickets from the UFC.
Months ago, White had expressed interest in pairing Diaz with Khamzat Chimaev, but Diaz felt insulted by the very idea of that fight. White has always said that the UFC is obligated to offer a contracted fighter multiple fights per year. If so, the Chimaev fight could have been one such fight that was offered and Diaz, of his own volition, opted not to take it.
Nevertheless, Diaz is clearly tired of waiting. The 36-year-old even teased a move to Bellator MMA recently. He’s said that the Poirier fight would be his retirement fight, but Poirier claims that he’s heard Diaz has already retired.
With one fight remaining on his current UFC deal, speculation abounds that Diaz would like to fight out his contract and become a free agent and hit the market, which could include a lucrative boxing match against a Paul brother or maybe even joining the aforementioned Bellator MMA or any other promotion that proves to be the highest bidder.
Meanwhile, the rampant belief is that the UFC would like Diaz to re-sign with the promotion before granting him his desired fight against Poirier, hence the frustrating stalemate.
MMA News will keep you abreast of all the latest updates on this developing story.