(Photo via Getty)
During the GSP-retirishment™ conference call on Friday, UFC president Dana White mentioned that he was working on getting welterweight contender Carlos Condit a big fight for the UFC 171: Hendricks vs. Lawler supporting card. As it turns out, White intended to book a rematch between Condit and currently-inactive star Nick Diaz — but Diaz turned it down.
According to an MMAJunkie report, White offered Diaz the fight in person at UFC on FOX 9, Saturday night in Sacramento. Diaz declined, saying he might return to competition in the spring, but only for a title fight.
“He doesn’t want the fight,” White told reporters following UFC on FOX 9. “I thought he wanted the rematch…but he’s not interested. He said maybe he’d be interested in coming back in May…He said, ‘I’ll fight the winner of Hendricks and Lawler.’ I said, ‘You’re ranked No. 10. It kind of doesn’t work that way.’”
“I’ve got to go back to the drawing board,” White continued. “Condit accepted the fight immediately, but I didn’t get it done (with Diaz)…Obviously the Diaz brothers are very unique individuals. You don’t pressure a guy who’s not interested in fighting. In this business, you’ve got to have the fire or you shouldn’t do it.”
Of course, Diaz’s strategy of holding out unless he’s offered a title shot is nothing new for him. But the fact that he’s still playing this game, two years after his last victory in the Octagon, represents a new level of insanity — a level of insanity that can only be expressed by a photo of Jason Miller hanging out with Matt Horwich.
Diaz previously faced Condit in an interim title fight at UFC 143, losing by unanimous decision. Since then, Diaz has spent his time trying to be a fight promoter himself, throwing knives in his kitchen, spending time with family, and filming his upcoming documentary Snow Angels in the Welfare Office, a harrowing look at Stockton’s permanent underclass or whatever.
As for Condit, he still doesn’t have his next opponent booked. All we know is that Condit won’t be fighting Tyron Woodley, because Woodley isn’t currently ranked in the UFC’s top 10, as if that means a goddamned thing.