1.) He hasn’t been winning much lately:
Diaz won his last fight over Maynard, but “The Bully” has lost four of his last five bouts by knockout, so that isn’t saying much.
Before that, Diaz got absolutely dominated in his title shot against Ben Henderson at UFC on FOX 5, and he fared even worse against Josh Thomson at UFC on FOX 7. “Punk” nearly kicked Diaz’s head off his shoulders to score an emphatic finish, and that undoubtedly knocked down Diaz’ pay considerably.
He’s an extremely well rounded fighter with dangerous submission skills and a sharp boxing game, but at some point Diaz is going to have to prove he can still hang with the elite lightweights in UFC if he wants to make more money.
Talk is cheap, and the money will come if Diaz can rack up another high-level win streak. He still has a ton of time to show that he can defeat the best, but he can’t continue to waste his best years on the sidelines bickering.
Nothing is a whole lot less than even his current paydays, even if they aren’t as much as they should be.
