Nate Diaz was loudly calling for a rematch with Jorge Masvidal following UFC 244 after he lost out by TKO due to a doctor deciding he couldn’t continue after suffering a nasty cut above his right eyebrow, but while his opponent has signalled that he’s down to run it back, it seems that UFC President Dana White is lukewarm on the idea.
“No, (a rematch) doesn’t interest me right away,” White said backstage. “I got asked a couple of questions tonight, ‘(What if) Diaz comes on the later rounds, if this fight had gone later, they didn’t stop it, what would happen?’ But it didn’t. It got stopped with cuts and Masvidal looked very dominant. He looked good, he’s looked good all year. He’s had nothing but great fights all year.
“If anybody’s the Fighter of 2019, it’s definitely that kid. And I think he’s got some big options coming his way.”
It could be that the fact that Masvidal was winning so convincingly against Diaz may be why White seems reluctant to go ahead with the immediate rematch, though the time it’ll take Diaz to completely heal from the damage he’s suffered could also be an issue.
The good news for Diaz is that he now has two big money-spinning rematches still waiting to made against Conor McGregor and Jorge Masvidal, and the UFC will surely be looking to cash in on one, if not both of them at some stage in the future.