Nate Diaz vs Khamzat Chimaev has earned the ire of many of the MMA community. The fight, the last of Diaz’s contract, is widely predicted to be a brutally one-sided loss for Diaz. UFC president Dana White, however, revealed at a Contender series press conference that Nate Diaz actually requested Khamzat, when his first choice of heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou was unavailable.
“I care about Nate a lot. I like Nate, and Nate came in here, long before that fight was ever made, and we were talking about it being his last fight, and I said, ‘Listen, kid. You think about the wars that Nate Diaz has put on and the incredible fights and the big fights that he’s done with us, go do whatever you want to do, man.’
Dana White: Nate Diaz Wanted Francis Ngannou or Khamzat
But getting a fight done with him isn’t as easy as seems. Everybody’s like, ‘Well, why don’t you make a fight?’ Well, he asked for Francis Ngannou. I could go on forever, but I won’t. We got it done. That’s the fight he wanted.”
Nate Diaz recently appeared on The MMA Hour to reveal that he’d been attempting to fight out his UFC contract, only for the promotion to refuse to offer him a fight. Instead, they offered lucrative extensions. In Diaz’s view, this is because they want to book Diaz vs McGregor 3 while they still can. While that would certainly be a huge fight for the promotion, Dana White dismissed the notion. For now.
“Conor’s not ready yet. Conor’s leg isn’t healed yet. Nate could obviously sit around and wait for that, but he doesn’t want it. I don’t know what he’s got planned or what he’s thinking, but right here, right now, he’s ready to fight. He wants to go, and we’re going.
That’s one of those fights you can do any time, but no, it never worked out that way. Listen, if you get two guys like Conor and Nate, who want to fight each other bad enough, it ends up happening.
No, it’s not like, ‘Oh God, I never got the chance to make No. 3. The first two were awesome. That first round with Conor and Nate in the first fight was insane. Conor was landing these crazy bombs, then Diaz comes out in that second round. It was madness, and then the second fight was awesome. If it happens, it happens, but we got enough out of the first two.”
As for Nate Diaz’s present and future, Dana White is focused on the Khamzat fight. “We made it, and here we are. And it’s a good fight. It’s a fight people want to see. It’s a fight that people will be interested in, so we’re going to do it.”
Do you believe Dana White? Let us know what you think in the comments.
