Nate Diaz says he wants to fight Dustin Poirier as soon as possible and then retire from mixed martial arts. Will the UFC let him?
Nate Diaz sounds like he’s just about done with this fight game thing.
On Friday night TMZ Sports caught up with the elusive younger Diaz brother on the red carpet of a Shaq Super Bowl rave in Los Angeles (what a time to be alive), and after congratulating Nate on being namedropped in a new Eminem single, talk turned to his combat sports future. Or lack thereof.
“I would like to fight Dustin Poirier. Like now,” Diaz said. “Like I’ve been trying to.”
“If there’s any mix-up it’s him, and them, and the game,” he continued. “I want the fight now. What’s up Dana White? Let’s get this retirement fight cracking so I can get out of this fight game. I’m done with it.”
Nate Diaz and Dustin Poirier have been going back and forth in public about a fight for months now, with both men clearly wanting the fight sooner rather than later. The hold up, according to various behind the scenes sources, is that the UFC refuses to book the fight — the last fight on Nate Diaz’s current UFC contract — unless Nate agrees to a one fight extension.
Considering there’s a million plus PPV buys hanging in the balance via an extremely lucrative third fight with Conor McGregor, we shouldn’t be surprised that when push comes to shove the UFC would choose the McGregor fight over a Poirier fight. And it’s not surprising Nate wants a quick exit rather than some vague possibility of fighting McGregor again, especially with bigger money boxing bouts on the horizon.
All in all, we wouldn’t hold our breath when it comes to Poirier vs. Diaz. There’s simply too many competing business interests warring to let it come together easily. But if it did happen, how would it go?
“He ain’t doing s—t to me, I’m telling you that much,” Nate declared.