Nate Diaz revealed on Wednesday that he’s turned down a fight with current lightweight No.1 contender Tony Ferguson after the UFC failed to meet his financial demands, and now Dana White has given his side of the story.
Speaking to Yahoo! Sports, White claimed that Diaz would have been well compensated for the fight, but not to the extent the fighter was hoping for due to doubts about his ability to be a major draw outside of his blockbuster bouts with Conor McGregor.
“Whatever his deal is, he’s got a pretty good deal,” White told Kevin Iole. “I mean, listen, at the end of the day, what is Diaz worth without Conor McGregor? I don’t know. The kid isn’t in a position for pay-per-view or any of that type of [stuff]. But this [a fight with Ferguson] could put him in a position. If he fought Tony Ferguson, it would be for the interim title.
“Obviously, if you held the interim title, you would get a piece of the pay-per-view. Diaz has to put himself in a position to make the pay-per-view money.”
So, it seems there’s a bit of a Mexican stand-off between the two parties at this stage, and like Diaz, White has made it clear he’s in no rush to change his position.
“It doesn’t frustrate me at all [that they’re inactive] because I’ve learned that you can’t make people fight, man. It’s the same thing when people ask me, ‘What if this guy retires,’ or ‘What if that guy retires?’ This is a business that, your head has to be in this game. You have to want to become a world champion. You have to want to fight. You have to go through everything it takes to get into the cage. It doesn’t frustrate me at all. We’ll keep offering the Diaz brothers fights until one of them says yes or they [decide to] never fight again.
“It doesn’t change my life one way or another. People really like the Diaz brothers. When they get in there, they’re tough and gritty and they mix it up. They’re fun to watch and their interviews are fun, and funny. They’re popular guys. But at the end of the day, people are excited about guys who want to win world titles and they want to find out who [are] the best fighters in the world in each weight class. Those are the things that sell and those are the things that people are interested in.”
