By now, most MMA fans know that Nate Diaz has come out swinging upon word from Dana White that he refused a fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Now, new manager for Diaz Mike Kogan recently contacted MMAmania.com (as per Michael Stets) to clarify the situation.
“Nate has never turned down a fight with anyone,” Kogan said. “There are conditions that we asked for that were turned down by the UFC, so the fight didn’t happen.”
It started on Twitter, when White declared that Diaz turned down a fight with Nurmagomedov. Diaz replied shortly thereafter with this tweet.
Then, in typical Diaz style, the 155-pound fighter tweeted again, saying that the UFC and White were “Full of s–t” and that he didn’t turn down anything.
Diaz is coming off a first-round bombing of Gray Maynard at The Ultimate Fighter 18 finale. It was his first victory since losing back-to-back fights with Benson Henderson and Josh Thomson, respectively.
Nurmagomedov is undefeated and has won five bouts under the UFC banner. With a style that is based heavily on takedowns and top control, it isn’t all that puzzling as to why Diaz might want special conditions for such a bout.
Now, the next question seems to be a simple one: Is Diaz within his rights to request anything outside of his contract?
White’s actions on this matter are nothing new. In a piece by Bleacher Report’s Jonathan Snowden regarding UFC fighter contracts, White discussed his tactic of calling fighters out for refusing fights.
The bottom line is, we’re all in the business of making fights that people want to see. You’re going to have your moments when fighters will lobby to not fight this guy or that guy. And normally what I do is call them out publicly when they won’t. Don’t tell me on the phone you don’t want to fight a guy and then not say it publicly…You can’t make anybody fight anybody. But nobody wants to be that guy.
Hopefully, both sides will come to some kind of agreement and we can see Diaz and Nurmagomedov in the Octagon sooner rather than later.
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