UFC president Dana White is conceding that Nate Diaz’s time with the promotion may finally be coming to an end. The infamously tenacious White has long held out on the final fight in Diaz’s contract hoping to encourage the fighter to take one last big-money fight, such as a trilogy bout against Conor McGregor. However, with Diaz boasting a solitary win in five years of fights, retirement may well be looming, and Jake Paul may well be waiting in the wings. White told TheMacLife that Nate Diaz “probably should go on and fight Jake Paul”.
“I mean, I like Nate. Let’s be honest, Nate’s won one fight in the last five or six years. You know? When these guys get into these positions, you’ve got guys that have been with us for a long time, that we respect, that we care about. You know, you’ve got Cerrones and Anthony Pettis before he left, and you’ve got Nate Diaz and Nick Diaz is still under contract with us.
Dana White on Nate Diaz: “He probably should go on and fight Jake Paul”
So you want to be fair to everybody, you want to do the right things or whatever. Nate Diaz isn’t going to come in and fight Kamaru Usman.
So listen, we’re trying to do the best we can. We’re trying not to s*** on anybody and disrespect anybody, but it’s not like we’re talking about Kamaru Usman here. We’re talking about Nate Diaz.
Nate’s won one fight in five years, so we’re trying to figure this thing out with him. He probably should go on and fight Jake Paul. That’s a fight that makes sense.”
Predictably, Jake Paul was quick to respond, taking to Twitter to air his consent, albeit conditionally. “Dana – I’m happy to be Nate’s last fight in UFC. You know the terms: pay fighters more and give them healthcare.
Sweetener: I will fight for free.” Jake Paul has long been a thorn in Dana White’s side, making a particular issue of what he sees as the unfair working conditions of the UFC roster. Paul wants to see Dana White pay his fighters substantially more, and to offer them a healthcare plan. Currently, fighters are contractors of the UFC, not employees, and therefore are not entitled to healthcare on the UFC’s dollar.
Nate Diaz, on the other hand, simply wants out of the UFC at this stage, if his social media antics are to be believed. A simple Twitter response was enough to make this clear.
“Send the release” Do you want to see Diaz vs Paul? Let us know in the comments.
