SAN JOSE, Calif. — Thursday, lightweight contender Nate Diaz indicated he’s considering a move up to welterweight.
While that remains his decision, his boss doesn’t think it would be the smartest career move.
“I think going to 170 is a big mistake,” UFC president Dana White told reporters Saturday night. “Big, strong guys at 170.”
White’s comments came on the heels of Diaz’s crushing KO loss to Josh Thomson at the HP Pavilion, in which he ate a brutal head kick and a furious finishing flurry on the ground. If Diaz is having trouble against guys his own size, how would going up in weight help?
“He can make 155,” White said. “Look what happened tonight at 155.”
Although the Team Cesar Gracie fighter from Stockton, Calif., has spent most of his career at lightweight, he had a previous stint at 170. Diaz went 2-2 at welterweight in 2010-11, finishing Rory Markham and Marcus Davis and then losing decisions to Dong Hyun Kim and Rory McDonald. He then dropped back to lightweight and won three in a row to earn a shot at Ben Henderson’s title. Diaz lost that fight before losing to Thomson on Saturday.