Nate Diaz breaks silence, says the holdup is just about him trying be paid his fair share

Quote :

Friday, May 20, was not a good day in Stockton, Calif. At least, it wasn’t according to UFC president Dana White.

White and company CEO Lorenzo Fertitta flew to the 209 to meet with Nate Diaz and his manager to try and iron out a deal. They wanted to put Diaz in the cage with Conor McGregor on Aug. 20 at UFC 202, after their UFC 200 headlining fight fell apart over a disagreement between McGregor and UFC brass.

The meeting wasn’t as fruitful as White had hoped it would be. Despite TMZ reporting that White stormed out of the meeting, Diaz said that characterization was exaggerated. He said during a special Wednesday edition of The MMA Hour that, while the meeting didn’t go as everyone had hoped, he remains on good terms with the UFC and believes that the fight will get worked out.

“It wasn’t the best meeting, but it wasn’t the worst meeting either,” Diaz said.

“It was just business talk. We didn’t both leave on the happiest note, but stuff is getting done. Things are moving forward.”

The business talk that kept the deal from getting done was Diaz’s insistence that it was time for him to get paid. While many said he finally got paid when he and McGregor scored huge numbers with UFC 196 in March, he insisted that was just a reimbursement for past performances.

“That’s reimbursement, that’s what (the UFC 196 payday) is. I haven’t been paid yet,” said Diaz, who went on to explain that some of the friction stemmed from him asking for a pay increase. He advised other fighters to do the same.

“I’m not begging for this fight. But everybody else seems to think it’s absurd when I’m asking for a raise. (Every fighter needs to) start acting like a businessman and treat yourself like a business and get yourself paid.”

Although the meeting ended without a deal, Diaz said that White understood where his fighter was coming from with his request.

“I told Dana, ‘I don’t want to piss no one off, but I just want to get mine when I can.’”

As soon as the meeting was over, the rumors of a Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor boxing match again reached a fever pitch. Fox Sports talkshow host Colin Cowherd even claimed to have sources indicating that the boxing match was set for September in Las Vegas.

Diaz, however, believes that the Mayweather vs. McGregor rumors are just that, rumors, and that both fighters continuing to talk about it is nothing more the attempt to keep their names in the media and to put pressure on Diaz to get a deal done to fight McGregor at UFC 202.

All that noise aside, he said that he and White have been texting, and that his manager, Lloyd Pierson, has been negotiating with UFC officials.

“Everybody’s been talking and I think we’re going to figure things out,” said Diaz.

http://www.mmaweekly.com/nate-diaz-breaks-silence-hes-just-trying-to-get-paid-for-conor-mcgregor-rematch

Hey, it's America.
I have no problem with anyone wanting to get paid more.

Yeah I love Nate's frame of mind on this. I think he's actually handling it very professionally by not bashing the UFC and instead just going about things calmly.
Everyone knows this rematch is pointless from a logical standpoint, and it's common knowledge by now that this only is even in the works because Conor wants it and Dana wants to give it to him.
So what about Nate?
He has nothing to gain and everything to lose. So what's in it for him? A huge payday, that's what. He's demanding it, just as he should be.
Good for him for not letting the brass tell him what he's worth here.

The fight is pointless standing wise but has great ppv potential. But even that's a gamble for the ufc.
I'd like to see the fight but I'm not going to ppv it.

Where does Nate stand anyways? Any potential for moving up any ladder to be any champ? So limited value to the ufc but I understand his need for more money in what may be described as the twilight of his career.

Im kind of torn on how I feel about this.  I always want the fighters to make more money, but I am so fucking sick of hearing about it from Nate that I almost hope they tell him to piss off and he misses a huge payday.

Btw - I know that doesnt make much sense - I love Nate, but for some reason I get such a bad taste in my mouth whenever he starts going on about money.  Not sure why.

Yeah Nick and Nate have a tendency to whine aboot how hard done by they are by the UFC.

I agree fighters should get paid top dollar. Where that top dollar is I don't know. Keep em happy, feeling respected and their families fed but how many millions do you really NEED. If you wanna get baseball, football or boxing money.... become a baseballer, footballer or boxer....

If you really cant fight for less, retire and wait for the company to offer you what you think you need to fight or ..... join a band.

Krieger wrote:

I agree fighters should get paid top dollar. Where that top dollar is I don't know. Keep em happy, feeling respected and their families fed but how many millions do you really NEED.  If you wanna get baseball, football or boxing money.... become a baseballer, footballer or boxer....

If you really cant fight for less, retire and wait for the company to offer you what you think you need to fight or ..... join a band.

you bring up a great point. you are 100% right.

+1

I never really looed at it like that.

FistK wrote:

Im kind of torn on how I feel about this.  I always want the fighters to make more money, but I am so fucking sick of hearing about it from Nate that I almost hope they tell him to piss off and he misses a huge payday.

Btw - I know that doesnt make much sense - I love Nate, but for some reason I get such a bad taste in my mouth whenever he starts going on about money.  Not sure why.

But this time he has a legitimate gripe, even if he didn't in the past.
I mean if you had to guess, how many multiples of Diaz's pay would you say McGregor is poised to make on this fight if things stand as offered by Dana?
Triple?
Maybe even quadruple?
None of us are naive to the fact that McGregor brings the UFC some big money for his fights, but lets be realistic here and recognize that anything more than even money is an insult to Diaz. Put yourself in his shoes for a second.
Here's a guy that you just beat handily in your (and his) most recent fight, you've got many more fights AND victories in the UFC than him, and he just got through with an ugly battle with your employer because he didn't feel like going through the media obligations (that you did).

Now, your employer wants you to fight him again for a fraction of what they're paying him.

Hell no. Fuck that.

Regardless of his past gripes, I'm proud of him on this one.

I dont really agree tbh.  Like I said I love him and want fighters to get paid, but I also think he is way over estimating his value.

Win or no win I think McGregor gets paid huge and the UFC makes huge money no matter who Conor fights.  If he fights Edgar or Aldo I feel they make just as much as Nate.  Diaz on the other hand will make nowhere near the money he would against anyone but McGregor.  If he keeps fucking around I think he will outsmart himself out of the biggest payday he has ever had, because he wants even more.  

But, again the above is not even my gripe.  I am just really fucking and sick of hearing about money from the Nate.  If this was the first time I would say "Go Nate!"  

But im just tired of it...

I'm coming at this from a different direction.... just a pure free market perspective.

I always appreciate when someone tries to make as much money as possible. That being said, the consequences stand too. If he ends up getting royally screwed if the UFC just decides to move on with a more intriguing fight, then I won't feel sorry for him either.

kind of feel that the UFC has to put on the diaz McGregor 2 fight. even tho it makes no sense I feel that conor and the ufc need this to allow conor to get his revenge. the fans of conor want to see him beat diaz because diaz beat him and I think that is more valuable money wise, ppv wise, business wise to the ufc and they should give diaz at minimum an equal amount in the rematch but not that amount for any other fight for diaz. ppv buys will probably be the biggest ppv ever for the rematch considering their first fight did 1.5 millions buys and ranks 2nd of all time for ufc ppv.

nate is spot on and I wouldn't budge on this. he actually sounds intelligent and business savvy for once.

FistK wrote:

Win or no win I think McGregor gets paid huge and the UFC makes huge money no matter who Conor fights.  If he fights Edgar or Aldo I feel they make just as much as Nate.  Diaz on the other hand will make nowhere near the money he would against anyone but McGregor.  If he keeps fucking around I think he will outsmart himself out of the biggest payday he has ever had, because he wants even more.  

I don't think so.
Like we've all said at one point or another; this fight makes zero sense. And the one and only reason it's happening is because McGregor wants it. It's been made pretty clear that as far as matchups go, Conor gets who Conor wants. I don't think he'll agree to fight anybody but Nate right now, and Nate knows that. So he holds all the cards.
They're gonna pay him, or neither he nor Conor will be fighting anybody anytime soon, and they won't let that happen.

Well I think the situation has changed since a few weeks ago as well. Maybe Conor has come to grips with it or maybe its something else, but I just heard him say in an interview that it may be time to move past Nate and get back to business. We'll see...

FistK wrote:

Well I think the situation has changed since a few weeks ago as well.  Maybe Conor has come to grips with it or maybe its something else, but I just heard him say in an interview that it may be time to move past Nate and get back to business.  We'll see...

This is exactly what will kill Nate's payday.

Connor vs Aldo = big PPV numbers
Connor vs Dos Anjos = big PPV numbers
Connor vs Frankie = big PPV numbers
Connor vs Rogan = big PPV numbers
Connor vs Shamrock = big PPV numbers
Diaz in a welterweight gate keeper match = opening fight on a main card.

Agreed GS