After splitting a pair of fights with superstar Conor McGregor, Nate Diaz’s stock has never been higher. Unfortunately, he knows this as well, and is unwilling to step into the cage for less than a super mega payday … one the UFC isn’t willing to give him. That’s probably why we’re seeing a Diaz-less UFC 209 this coming March 4th. So what does he want, exactly? According to this recent video interview, he wants next against the winner of McGregor versus Mayweather.
“Everybody saying I’m sitting out and waiting but now they’re talking all this Mayweather-McGregor stuff,” he said. “I tried to get my boxing license with some boxing promoters trying to buy my contract from the UFC, and the UFC was not letting me go. But now they’re talking all this McGregor-Mayweather stuff. I don’t know how real or fake it is, but it sounds like it could [happen], who knows? Money talks. So all I know is I’m the only one with the credentials to fight both of these guys. They claim they’re the best in the world. Mayweather has been for years at boxing and McGregor, I just beat him twice and everybody forgets that.”
“So, I got winner, straight up. I’m in the right place to be doing it with all the best boxers in the world.”
Once again, you might be asking yourself: what is with all these MMA fighters trying to box lately? It probably has to do with the difference in payscale between the two sports. In both sports, making more than a million dollars off one fight is something only a select few on the roster can do. But in boxing, a fighter that can move the pay-per-view needle gets a much larger chunk of the proceeds. In the UFC, that money mostly goes to the promotion to pay the hundreds of employees (and undercard fighters) that keep the machine rolling.
At this point in the game, with 23 UFC fights under his belt, Diaz is probably ready to cash in his fame in a few boxing match ups. Win or lose, he’d come out with more money fighting one or two half decent boxing names than he would fighting the UFC for two bucks a PPV buy for the rest of his career. Probably just one more reason the UFC must not like all this boxing stuff McGregor has brought to the forefront: it makes their pay structure look pretty terrible in comparison.
