Nate Diaz could get himself some ‘forever money’ like his old UFC rival.
It would appear as if the stars are aligning for Diaz to complete his trilogy with Conor McGregor, and the fight may yet take place at UFC 219 on December 30.
Despite the fact that Tony Ferguson and Kevin Lee will fight for an interim UFC lightweight belt in Las Vegas, on October 7, McGregor has his sights on the biggest payday and the “knock” that interests him most. Diaz checks both boxes.
The Californian was the only UFC fighter mentioned by McGregor when he was asked about his next opponent, following his boxing defeat to Floyd Mayweather Jr.
‘The Notorious’ has already spoken about Diaz needing to get down to 155lbs, rather than 170lbs, for their third fight. Considering that Diaz has done most of his best work in the lightweight division, that should be no major impediment for a December fight in Vegas.
Diaz attended McGregor vs. Mayweather at the T-Mobile Arena and he was happy to tell those backstage that the Dubliner only won a round or two because ‘Money’ let him. He has a boxing licence too – and there has been talk of a fight with Paulie Malignaggi – but McGregor is the prize.
Who do you want to see Conor McGregor fight next?
RT for Nate Diaz
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— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) August 27, 2017
Richard Perez, Diaz’ boxing coach, has named the American’s price to fight McGregor. He told Submission Radio:
“At least $20 million, $30 million. Come on!
“UFC’s making a whole lot of money, a whole lot of money and they’re pocketing it. They’re giving more to McGregor, so it’s not fair because it takes two in that ring to draw a crowd – I mean, a good two fighters.
“It’s just like Mayweather when he fought [Andre] Berto. It was not even sold out at all. It was embarrassing. It’s because that guy couldn’t draw a crowd.
“See, that’s what I’m saying, it’s the fighters that draw the crowd, and Nathan and McGregor, a third one would be outstanding. Everyone knows that. So he needs to get paid at least $30 million easy.”
Diaz earned $500,000 [disclosed pay] for his victory over McGregor at UFC 196. He lost the rematch at UFC 202 but received $2m for the fight. With a percentage of the pay-per-view taken into account, the Stockton native was thought to have made close to $10m when his disclosed purse is added in.
McGregor-Diaz III would, in our opinion, take in over two million PPV buys so Diaz looking for $20m to form one half of the main card is not too ambitious. Perhaps Perez should have started with $30m, though, and held firm for as long as possible.
