MMA analyst Chael Sonnen believes the UFC is in the lead to reclaim Nate Diaz’s business. Diaz fought the final fight of his UFC contract against Tony Fergus earlier this year, entering free agency in the process. Diaz has plenty of options, including celebrity boxing or moving to another MMA promotion, but Sonnen discussed Diaz’s potential choices in a recent interview with The MMA Hour.
“You want to know what Nate Diaz is going to do next? Unknown. When I tell you unknown, what I’m trying to say is all options are on the table, but that option is also to return to the UFC and to fight Conor McGregor. That’s not just gone now, and it has to be Jake Paul or Floyd Mayweather and he’s got to go start his own promotion.
Chael Sonnen’s Inside Scoop on Nate Diaz’s Free Agent Possibilities
Those things are all possibilities, but a return is also on the table; in fact, I think it’s leading the charge of what’s possible for Nate Diaz.”
Sonnen believes that the UFC is “leading the charge” to bring Diaz back into the fold, simply because a third fight against Conor McGregor would be so lucrative.
“He would not just be coming back. There would be a brand new and fresh conversation to be had and I think he wants to have that conversation. Yeah, I think it’s leading the way. I don’t think he’s going off to box Floyd and I don’t know how much legs there are to Jake Paul, I realize that there’s something there to pull.”
Sonnen also evaluted some of Diaz’s own comments on the matter. “Following Nate Diaz is a very complicated thing. By the way, I think he would tell me. I think if I called him and said, ‘Hey Nate, by the way, curiosity’s got me, what are you going to do?’ I’ve never done that and if you want to know why, it’s not because I couldn’t keep a secret and I’d be worried that he gave it to me. I don’t know that I want to know. I enjoy this. I really enjoy the manoeuvering of Nate.
Nate has said a number of things that I didn’t believe. I thought he was working them. Just for example, when he says he wants to fight Chimaev on and two days later he’s signed to fight Chimaev, I didn’t believe it at the time that he said it.
When he said, ‘I’m going to walk away or I’m going to do my own promotion,’ when he said, ‘I’m going to consider Floyd,’ I thought these were just things you say. When he said he turned down Conor McGregor, which just by my math of understanding his contract would bring him in $12 million. That would be a massive night for this industry. I didn’t believe it. I thought he was working, I thought he was getting attention, and they all end up being straight and I’ve frankly enjoyed the journey.”
