Twenty-four hours after Nate Diaz lashed out at the UFC and USADA over an apparent failed drug test that resulted in him bailing on the UFC 244 main event, the fight is reportedly back on.
As reported by ESPN late Friday night, USADA has ruled Diaz eligible to fight, and the UFC believes he’ll compete against Jorge Masvidal as scheduled on Nov. 2 inside Madison Square Garden.
Breaking: Nate Diaz is eligible to compete at UFC 244. USADA has ruled he has not committed an anti-doping violation. Elevated level of SARMS was traced to a contaminated organic, vegan, plant-based daily multivitamin.
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) October 26, 2019
UFC Chief Legal Officer Hunter Campbell says he has "every reason to believe" Diaz will still fight in New York.
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) October 26, 2019
Diaz made his return to the UFC after nearly three years off back in August, when he defeated Anthony Pettis by unanimous decision to move to 20-11 in his career. At the conclusion of his fight, he expressed interest in squaring off against Masvidal, who was seated at ringside and was looking for his next opponent following his stunning first-round knockout of Ben Askren in July to move to 34-13 in his career.
UFC president Dana White moved quickly to book Diaz-Masvidal, creating the first-ever “Baddest Motherf***er” championship for the occasion. While no traditional championship is on the line, the fight has plenty of implications for a future shot at UFC gold.
For now, though, we’ll wait to see whether Diaz makes the trip and whether the UFC has somehow managed to save what seemed to be a volatile situation just one day ago.
