BOSTON – A few days ago UFC president Dana White revealed that he had approached welterweight Nick Diaz with an offer to fight Lyoto Machida at 185 pounds. Though Machida has flirted with the idea of moving down to middleweight, the proposed bout caught people by surprise for two reasons. One, because there is a 35-pound difference between each fighter’s natural weight class. And two because Diaz was, at latest report, still “retired.”
But that fight isn’t likely to materialize after all. White told a group of reporters after the UFC Fight Night 26 card that it was a flight of fancy that just didn’t come together.
“That was a bad idea,” he said. “The Diaz-Machida thing I was—I’m going to throw Joe SIlva under the bus again. That was Joe Silva’s idea. It was a bad idea.”
When asked if the decision to pull the fight off the the table was due to Diaz’s refusal to accept it, White made it clear that that wasn’t the case.
“No,” he said. “Diaz didn’t turn it down. There’s other things going on with Diaz.”
Though he didn’t elaborate on what Diaz’s plans were, Machida himself had expressed interest in fighting Vitor Belfort next, after having dropped a controversial decision to Phil Davis at UFC 163. But his tune changed after Chael Sonnen prevailed in Saturday night’s main event over Mauricio Rua. Machida tweeted out after the fight, “since @vitorbelfort hasn’t accepted our fight, i am sure that @danawhite can match me against @sonnench.”
White said that he would examine all the possibilities when he returns from a mini-vacation to Maine.