What Comeback? Nick Diaz Has Given the UFC a Massive Kick in the Teeth After Openly Flirting With Bellator on Instagram…
Nick Diaz was one of the most loved fighters on the UFC roster. While the street cred of both of the Diaz brothers has deteriorated over the past couple of years, because fans are getting a bit sick of listening to them complain without fighting, he still commands a lot of attention.
He’s supposed to be fighting Jorge Masvidal early next year, after a hiatus that last saw him compete against Anderson Silva back in 2015. A combination of a ban on marijuana use, a high-profile domestic abuse investigation – eventually dismissed – and his own lack of urgency have seen fans grow impatient with the elder Diaz.
Now it turns out that he might not even be making that comeback. It’s believed that he either wants more money to fight Masvidal or else a higher-profile opponent. That’s resulted in him blatantly courting Bellator on Instagram, in a move designed to seriously annoy the UFC.
Comeback
Diaz is supposed to be fighting Jorge Masvidal at UFC 235 in Las Vegas, Nevada, in March 2019. That’s according to Dana White who confirmed the fight is made when questioned about it at the post-fight press conference at UFC 231 in Toronto, Canada. He said:
“As far as I know sitting right here right now, that fight’s on. Unless something happened since Tuesday, which is very possible, it’s on.”
With the Diaz Brothers, anything is possible. A fight between Nate Diaz and Dustin Poirier has already broken down after ‘The Diamond’ got injured and the UFC wouldn’t meet Nate’s financial demands. According to White, nothing is happening in that situation and the UFC has no plans to deal with Diaz until he sorts out his attitude.
Money Talk
It’s all about money for Diaz. At the age of 35, having missed some of the prime years of his career, you can’t blame him really for that. He is a big name draw, but at the same time, you have to question whether or not a fighter can just waltz back into the promotion and make lots of demands. He’s not having it though, writing on an Instagram post:
“F**k UFC it’s all about Bellator now at least they pay me scCoker is a g.”
Scott Coker is, of course, the President of Bellator, and the former CEO of Strikeforce. He’s synonymous with MMA and MMA fighters are unanimously in their praise of him. Coker is a legit guy and usually treats his fighters fairly and honestly in a way that Dana White doesn’t.
Diaz Drama
Another day, another Diaz temper tantrum. It remains to be seen whether or not he will be back or not next year. He faces two problems. The first is that telling the UFC:
“Stop low-balling yo boy”
might not be the most effective way of going about your business. The second is that he risks the fact that fans just might not care anymore.
