After nearly 10 years and 22 fights in the UFC, Nate Diaz is finally getting paid. The younger of the two Diaz brothers was making a disclosed pay of $20,000 to show and $20,000 to win, peanuts in the world of the UFC where many of the bigger names of the sport pull in six figure salaries. Pay became such an issue that Diaz showed up overweight and out of shape for a fight with future lightweight champ Rafael Dos Anjos. He simply didn’t have the motivation to work hard when he was being paid so little.
All that changed when Conor McGregor picked Diaz out as a late replacement for the injured Dos Anjos leading up to UFC 198. For the first time, Diaz got paid what he felt he deserved: over a million dollars after a percentage of pay per view profits were factored in. Nate showed up ready to fight and defeated McGregor, setting up a rematch with even more money on the table for the Stockton native.
“I was like ‘Ha ha you motherf*ckers. Call me for the next one, but you better come with something good,’” Diaz said in an interview with Yahoo Sports. “I don’t give a sh*t. You didn’t give me enough money, but I come from a place with no money and you gave me too much money. I don’t give a f*ck about making more. I am doing better than I was ever supposed to do.”
Negotiations between the UFC and Nate were terse, with UFC president Dana White reportedly walking out on Diaz and his management during a meeting in Stockton. That’s a sign Nate was asking much more for UFC 202 than he had for the original rematch that had been scheduled for UFC 200. Whatever those demands were, the two parties eventually came to an agreement … one that involved Dana White taking a ‘Stockton slap’ to the face.
“[The UFC] better hope I don’t win this fight,” Diaz said. “Because it’s going to be a lot of trouble for everybody, in terms of the business. This one coming up, they better hope I don’t win this one because the game is going to change. It already has.”
One thing is for sure: you’re not going to be seeing Nate Diaz in the Octagon for $40,000 again. His rematch with Conor McGregor goes down at UFC 202 on August 20.