Dana White has responded to Nick Diaz who has been complaining about who he’ll be facing in his comeback fight at UFC 266.
The former Strikeforce champion hasn’t fought since 2015 and hasn’t picked up a win inside the Octagon since 2011. Despite that, Diaz believes he should’ve been granted an immediate shot at Kamaru Usman, who currently holds UFC gold at welterweight. Instead, he’ll rematch Robbie Lawler over fives rounds on Saturday night and he says whoever set this fight up is an “idiot”.
“I think I’ll beat the sh*t out of Usman,” Diaz told ESPN on Wednesday. “I’ll have a better shot against Usman than I do Lawler, just because I already beat Lawler. This doesn’t make sense for me to go in and fight Robbie Lawler again. I don’t know why I’m doing this. … This should not happen. Whoever set this up is an idiot. I don’t know why I’m doing this. I don’t know why this happened. I should be fighting Kamaru Usman – and that’s it.”
The UFC president says a fight between Usman and Diaz makes no sense.
“You think he should be fighting Kamaru Usman?” White asked Yahoo Sports. “You know what I’ve been saying lately: Kamaru Usman is the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world, OK? (He beat Jorge) Masvidal twice, Gilbert Burns, Tyron Woodley, (Rafael dos Anjos), Demian Maia, Leon Edwards. I mean, the list of guys that this guy has beaten is unbelievable, and the way that he beat them.
“He’s the world champion in that division and he’s the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world. Does anybody out there think that that’s who Nick Diaz should come back and fight after not fighting for seven years? That would be an idiot that would make that fight.” (Transcribed by MMA Junkie)
If Nick Diaz wins impressively at UFC 266, do you think Dana White might be more inclined to book a fight between him and Kamaru Usman?