Former UFC lightweight title contender Nate Diaz has been in the news quite a bit lately, but it hasn’t been about anything that he’s done in the cage.
No, Diaz has been in the news for lamenting about his contract situation since he knocked out Gray Maynard in the main event of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 18 Finale in November 2013. He and his manager Mike Kogan have been at extreme odds with UFC president Dana White and reportedly turning down a fight with currently injured No. 2 contender Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Diaz and his camp insist that they never turned down the fight, that they only wanted to get paid what they deserve in order to take it. That may be the case, and it certainly is a valid concern in today’s era of MMA where the UFC is repeatedly blasted for not paying fighters what they are worth.
But there’s only one way to make a ton of money as a fighter, and that’s to keep winning to the point of championship status. Diaz hasn’t exactly been doing that, but he does have another golden opportunity to prove his worth when he battles surging No. 3-ranked Rafael dos Anjos in the co-main event of UFC on FOX 13 on December 13.
If he wins that fight, Diaz (who recently re-debuted on the rankings at No. 14) will be back near the top of the extremely talented 155-pound landscape. If he loses, however, he’ll be pushed further back down the line in one of the most crowded divisions in the UFC.
That means it’s simply time for Diaz to put his amazing fighting skills to the test and win some big fights rather than complain about his pay while wasting his athletic prime. There’s nothing else he can do. Here are three big reasons why it’s time for Diaz to let his fists do his talking.
