Nate Diaz is pissed off once again. Days after the biggest win and biggest payday of his career, Diaz is reacting to the positive press that Conor McGregor has received, while his own incredible performance, executed on only 10 days notice, has been put on the back burner.
“I feel like, honest, I feel like the UFC wants to weed me the f— out of this position. I don’t know if I’m supposed to say that. Sorry. I feel like a lot of people are coming at me now. I see them making a lot of excuses for him, and I think it’s kind of ridiculous.
“I don’t think it’s just the UFC. It’s everybody. People are saying, ‘Oh, [McGregor] is great, he’s accepted the loss so well.’ If I would have lost, people would be saying, ‘piece of s— shouldn’t have accepted the fight.’ I don’t mean to be bitter, but there are a lot of excuses being made for this guy. He’s talking about winning the first round. There are five rounds in a fight. Who gives a s— if you won a round? You lost.”
The subtext of what Diaz is saying is true — he was set up to be a sacrificial lamb. A stepping stone for the money-making machine that is/was McGregor. Had McGregor beat Diaz, he would be looking at a UFC 200 date for the welterweight title against Robbie Lawler. Diaz is currently in limbo. And it’s not like he isn’t an exciting fighter — Diaz has the most post-fight bonuses in UFC history. He’s a fan favorite, but for whatever reason, he’s not getting the bright lights like McGregor and others. This isn’t a new issue. Diaz has been complaining about this for years. He said this in April of 2014:
“They need to be about more money. My contract is all fucked up. I want to be paid like these other fighters. I’m over here getting chump change. At this point, they’re paying all my partners and other people I train with are getting real money, and it’s too embarrassing for me to even fight again for the money they’re paying me. So they can either pay me or let me go. I’m with that…. I don’t get paid sh*t, and I’m about to tell the world. I didn’t like what my brother and my partners got paid. Now that they got a better contract, which still ain’t sh*t, it blows what I get out of the water. And they deserve triple what they get. I’ve been in the UFC for eight years and never turned down a fight…. My partners still make sh*t money for what the company is bringing in.”
To which UFC President Dana White responded:
“Nate needs to get back in there and start fighting, win fights again and earn a title shot again…. I’ve always been good to Diaz. This is the kind of craziness you see with athletes. They end up spinning off and don’t make the money they should have made. Nate Diaz has what it takes to be champion or he doesn’t, but I’ll tell you, there’s only one way to find out. He has to come back and fight. He thinks he loses to two of the best guys in the world and deserves more money? In what f*cking planet does that make sense?”
That kind of makes sense. But the UFC is about selling tickets and PPVs as much as staying true to rankings. Chael Sonnen undoubtedly earned more cash and bigger fights despite losing to Anderson Silva and Jon Jones. And the worst kicker — Sage Northcutt, UFC rookie and golden boy, is making $40,000 to show. It took years for Diaz to get to that level of pay, and Northcutt has proved nothing in the Octagon compared to Diaz and other veteran fighters.
Back to Diaz’s ESPN rant:
“I was screwed for a long time. My problem was I was a soldier for a long time. I never even considered money, it was more about not getting my ass whooped. Once I thought about it for two minutes, I realized I was getting f*cked. It was stupid not to pay attention to that the whole time. If I had been thinking business since I was 21, I’d be a rich man right now.”
The UFC is coming off a record year, raking in $600 million in revenue, and it just lost Matt Mitrione and Benson Henderson to Bellator. Diaz’s complaints are not unique to him. Even welterweight contender Rory MacDonald will be testing the waters of free agency. McDonald, who has had a brilliant career in the UFC, also feels slighted by the UFC:
“I want to make the most money I can. I want to get paid for what I bring to the table. I’ve sacrificed a lot to get to the top, to the world title. I really sacrificed, and I took a lot of chances. I did a lot of favors, I felt like, for the UFC and I don’t think it got returned. So now it’s all about making money, and whoever wants to pay me the most is where I’ll go.”
MacDonald is making $59,000 to show. Dana White, on what f*cking planet does that make sense?
(Via ESPN)
