One of the UFC’s biggest superstars wants OUT of the company.
Nate Diaz recently tweeted the following:
I Would like to request to be released from the @ufc @danawhite @hunter
I apologize for asking online but u don’t give me a fight asap I got shit to do
🏝 🤼♀️ 🥊 👊🏼 🏃♂️— Nathan Diaz (@NateDiaz209) March 26, 2022
Diaz tagged the UFC’s official Twitter account, UFC President Dana White, and attempted to tag UFC Chief Business Officer, Hunter Campbell. Comically, @hunter on Twitter is not Hunter Campbell, and if you go to that account now the user’s name is “Hunter (Not UFC guy).”
Diaz apologized for the fact that he was doing this publicly by asking on Twitter, but implied that he felt like he was left with no other choice.
Diaz has been frustrated at the fact that he can’t seem to get a fight finalized. In the past few months, Diaz has publicly stated multiple times that he wants to fight but has constantly been alluding to the fact that there are some unknown issues on the UFC’s end that are preventing things from being finalized.
Been tryin to fight for 7 months @ufc
LFG— Nathan Diaz (@NateDiaz209) March 24, 2022
Specifically, Diaz has been in talks to fight with Dustin Poirier for months now but they can’t seem to get things finalized for some reason.
Ready to fight @ufc is slow rolling me wtf pic.twitter.com/8cjm0udGJ5
— Nathan Diaz (@NateDiaz209) March 6, 2022
What’s the hold up?
It has been released that Nate Diaz is on the final fight of his current UFC contract. That means that after his next UFC fight, he would become a free agent if they can’t come to terms on a new agreement. So naturally the biggest theory on what the hold up is here is that they can’t seem to come to terms on a new deal and they don’t want Diaz to fight out his current deal and be able to walk away.
Lately, the UFC has been securing record new deals with some of their biggest stars. Most notably, Israel Adesanya and Jorge Masvidal have both recently signed new deals, both of which were touted as “some of the most lucrative MMA deals of all time.” Now more than ever, the UFC is trying to make sure that their biggest stars don’t have the freedom to walk away into new territories. There are some new players in the MMA space, although none who can realistically even come close to the UFC’s popularity.
Most notably, Jake Paul is one of the biggest threats to the UFC right now, believe it or not. So far Paul’s model has been based off of getting wins against past-their-prime former UFC fighters. Paul has been vocal about calling out some of the UFC’s biggest current stars, such as Masvidal and Nate and Nick Diaz, as well as Conor McGregor. Paul has also been extremely vocal against Dana White. Therefore, White doesn’t want to lost any of his biggest stars now more than ever, so there has been a noticeable focus on providing lucrative deals to keep top stars happy.
Historically, the UFC has had trouble negotiating with both Diaz brothers. So it’s possible that Nate is being difficult to negotiate with and the UFC refused to let him move forward before they have a future in plan. It’s also possible that Diaz is not interested in returning, and wants to fight out his deal so that he can move on because as he stated, “I got shit to do.”
Regardless, be on the lookout in the next few weeks to hear if there is any news of Diaz signing a new deal, announcing his next/final fight, or getting approval for his release request, although that is most unlikely.