Nate Diaz isn’t exactly in Dana White’s good books right now.
UFC 230 was supposed to feature the return of Nate Diaz in a prime spot against contender Dustin Poirier. However, that fight didn’t come to pass due to an injury to Poirier. Before that though, Diaz was routinely trolling on social media saying that he didn’t want to fight, or insisting that the bout be for a 165-pound title.
Well, UFC president Dana White was not exactly impressed with his antics.
While speaking with ESPN about the future of the younger Diaz brother, White made it clear that they aren’t looking to promote Diaz again until he really wants it (transcribed by MMA Mania):
“I’m not interested in making a Nate Diaz fight until Diaz is just dying to fight. We’ll offer him fights, we always offer him fights. We probably offered this kid 50 fights since he fought Conor. When he’s ready to fight, he’ll let us know.”
…
“He wanted a fight, we made a fight, we announced the fight, immediately he starts saying he’s not fighting,” White said. “We had a guy here in the company that was a big Nate Diaz fan, a big Nick Diaz fan and wanted to work with them. He’s not as enthusiastic as he used to be.”
Poirier himself offered similar sentiments in an interview a couple of days ago, saying it was a “huge headache” trying to negotiate the bout with Diaz.
Diaz has not competed since a 2016 loss to Conor McGregor. His brother Nick is in the same bout, having not stepped into the Octagon since early 2015.