Dana White is sending his best wishes to Nate Diaz.
This weekend at UFC 279 could be the last time Nate Diaz fights in the UFC Octagon. After 15 years in the UFC, Diaz is looking toward new opportunities. Diaz will be facing Khamzat Chimaev in the main event on Saturday night and after that, he will be free to go. This is the last fight on the contract for Diaz and when asked if Dana White believes this is really it for the Stockton native, he said he wasn’t sure but wishes him well if so.
“I don’t know. I mean, Nate and I talked and I said, listen, this kid came in on The Ultimate Fighter he’s fought in incredible wars for us and he’s been a big part of this company for a very long time and what more can I ask of Nate?” White said in the lead-up to UFC 279. “If Nate’s ready to make this his last fight, I wish him all the best in the world and, it’s been fun. It’s really been fun dealing with those two. At certain times, it was whatever, but looking back, the Diaz brothers have been an absolute blast. They’re legends in this sport. They’re legends in this company and these days come with all the guys and if that’s what Nat wants then we wish them the best.”
White and Diaz have not always seen eye to eye. Over the past year, Diaz has been publicly expressing his desire to leave the company. He had one fight left on his contract and was desperately looking to fulfill that obligation. Although White has remained adamant that the UFC had been offering Diaz opportunities, Diaz claims this is false. Now that he is on the precipices of his final fight, he is still claiming that the UFC is using him and had pressured him into taking this matchup that he did not want.
Dana White responds to claims that he and Diaz almost fight once
It seems that bad blood between White and Diaz may be on the back burner and Diaz will be leaving the UFC with plenty of financial opportunities ahead of him. Diaz recently started his own MMA fight promotion called Real Fight inc and has been called out by Jake Paul to box in the past. Although White seems happy that Diaz is doing well, he was confronted with a question about an incident that happened between himself and Diaz back in the day. According to Diaz the two almost came to blows in a nightclub once. White laughed at the memory and would not comment either way.
“Allegedly,” was all White would say on the matter. “We were drinking.”
UFC 279 goes down on Sept. 10 live from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, NV. Diaz will be taking on Khamzat Chimaev in the main event.
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