Getting Masvidal Back Was Cool. Now Do Nate Diaz

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Is it too much to hope for that the UFC can work out a deal to get another one of its top stars back in the cage by the end of 2020?

There’s simply no denying that there’s something seriously messed up with the UFC’s payscale right now. Big fights that should be no-brainers for the promotion continue to not come together because the promotion is so leveraged with debt and terrified of sliding into boxing paydays that UFC president Dana White would rather shut down talks for superfights like Jon Jones vs. Francis Ngannou than normalize even the possibility of eight figure purses — something that should be the reality when it comes to fights with million buy potential.

Over the span of the past few months, we’ve seen several top fighters retire rather than accept the current terms of their fight contracts. Jon Jones is one. Henry Cejudo another. And while Conor McGregor is his own special case as always, even he lashed out about the UFC’s particular brand of hardball, declaring “Whatever I say, they want to go against it to show some kind of power.” Right up until the UFC was thrust into a position where their debut Fight Island card lost its main event, their newest potential superstar Jorge Masvidal was also looking like he’d be spending an undetermined amount of time on the outs with company brass.

Before the recent exodus of stars at the top of the sport happened earlier this year, the Diaz brothers stood as longstanding examples of needle moving draws the UFC refused to treat as such. It was easier for the UFC to play their resistance off to the media though because Nick and Nate always seemed somewhat ambivalent to fighting and actively antagonistic towards authority. But Nate’s two fights against Conor McGregor went down as some of the biggest pay-per-view events in company history. His fight with Jorge Masvidal was the biggest PPV of 2019.

Any other fight promoter would be shaping their schedule and plans around the popular lightweight. But instead the UFC continues to try and treat Diaz as a malcontent not even worth picking up the phone to call.

Well, now would be a great time to finally give him a call and see what might interest him.

Following Jorge Masvidal’s loss to Kamaru Usman at UFC 251, many have pointed out that a rematch of their UFC 244 fight would be the perfect rebound for both fighters. While Masvidal handled Diaz through the first three rounds of their first fight, you can’t deny cardio could have turned the tide later on.

Even the cut that ended the fight via doctor’s stoppage was an unhealed wound Diaz received in his fight against Anthony Pettis a month and a half earlier. Diaz’s contribution to the UFC’s bottom line by accepting the Pettis and Masvidal fights within a two and a half month span should have swayed the promotion towards the same sort of consideration given to fighters like Conor McGregor and Max Holloway.

Jorge Masvidal seems down for the rematch too, which he started to hype up when the Usman fight fell through.

And then there’s Conor McGregor, who continues to sit out waiting for a dancing partner that appeals to him. That could be Justin Gaethje, should Khabib Nurmagomedov make the understandable decision to delay a tentatively planned September return following the death of his father. But it could also finally be the Diaz rubber match, which Conor has always promised would go down sooner or later.

No better time than ‘sooner’ if you ask me.