Dana White: “As Far As I Know, Jorge Masvidal Vs Nick Diaz Is Still On”
UFC president Dana White claims Nick Diaz really returns to the octagon at UFC 235 against Jorge Masvidal.
According to Dana White, Jorge Masvidal Vs Nick Diaz is still on for March 2nd, 2019. UFC president confirmed it during UFC 231 post-fight press conference. Yet, he didn’t sound persuasive. (h/t MMAMania.com)
”Somebody was just telling me earlier that we didn’t announce that?” White asked. “As far as I know, sitting right here right now, that fight’s on. Yeah, as far as I know, that fight is on. I’ve been here since Tuesday. Unless something happened since Tuesday, which is very possible, it’s on.”
Nick Diaz last fought at UFC 183 on January 31, 2015, in a Middleweight match, where he was defeated via unanimous decision to Anderson Silva. The match was later overturned to no contest. “El Diablo” was tested positive on marijuana, “The Spider” on drostanolone and androsterone.
Brett Okamoto from ESPN first published at the mid of November that the match between Nick Diaz and Jorge Masvidal was close to be finalized.
Breaking: The UFC is close to finalizing Nick Diaz's return to the Octagon, per Dana White. The fight is Jorge Masvidal at UFC 235 on March 2 in Las Vegas. Diaz's first appearance in more than four years. Story coming soon to @ESPN.
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) November 15, 2018
Since then, Nick Diaz was very silent on social media. He didn’t write about this match.
As well as you know, Diaz brothers keep playing their own game, turning down fights. Dana White spoke about that in March 2017. In May 2018, Nate Diaz said he wanted money for the UFC comeback, not a super fight or a superstar like Conor McGregor. According to Nate, UFC didn’t offer a suitable paycheck.
Nate Diaz was signed for a match against Dustin Poirier at UFC 230. But let’s look back at UFC 25th anniversary press conference, which happened on August 3, 2018. Nate stormed out of the conference hall after the promo announcement of McGregor’s return. He wanted to fight at the same card as “The Notorious” but it didn’t happen.
Yet, Dustin Poirier suffered an injury in the training session and couldn’t fight. It looked like Nate easily accepted “no” for the co-main event of UFC 230.
Finally, in October of this year, Dana White stated he wasn’t interested in offering Nate Diaz fights. According to UFC president, “The Stockton Slugger” was offered over 50 matches since his UFC 202 match against Conor McGregor, but Nate turned everything down.
Dana White says nothing goes on with Nate at the moment.
”We got nothing going on with Nate,” White confirmed.
What are your thoughts on this? Will Nick Diaz finally return after such a long break? Why would he accept a match against Jorge Masvidal, did his bank account run dry?
