Nate Diaz currently holds more cards than he knows what to do with.
After comprehensively beating the UFC’s biggest name who was scheduled to fight for the UFC lightweight belt, Diaz has surely leapfrogged everybody to the power position at 155 lbs.
Diaz fought at welterweight on March 5 and there had been some talk that he’d be the top contender to challenge Robbie Lawler this summer and even a super-fight welcome back to Georges St-Pierre was in the discussion.
The Stockton fighter has revealed the fight he wants next in an interview with ESPN’s Brett Okamoto, explaining why he would ideally like to stay away from the top tier at 170 lbs.
“I’m thinking probably the lightweight title fight, whatever is biggest,” Diaz told ESPN. “The biggest thing with Lawler and GSP — I would have been all about those fights and I am, but at the same time, my brother [Nick] is coming back and those are his fights. Those are Nick Diaz fights. I’m not trying to step on his shoes. We’ll see how things play out. As far as rematches go, I lost close decisions and never got a rematch.
“I’m not asking for anything. I’m demanding more than everybody. I want more than everybody, straight up. Money talks. I want the biggest fight. Whoever I’ve got to fight — the biggest show, biggest payday — that’s what I want.”
Speaking of paydays, much had been made of the windfall secured by Diaz after he stepped in for the injured Rafael dos Anjos 11 days ahead of UFC 196, with Dana White joking that we may never see him again because of the amount of money he made but Diaz has played down the amount he earned.
“I made a good amount of money,” Diaz said. “I think they’re overexaggerating how much — I don’t feel like anybody did me any favors, I’ll tell you that much — but I made a good chunk of change and I’m grateful. I’ve been demanding that.
“I was screwed for a long time. My problem was I was a soldier for a long time. I never even considered money, it was more about not getting my ass whooped. Once I thought about it for two minutes, I realized I was getting f—ed. It was stupid not to pay attention to that the whole time. If I had been thinking business since I was 21, I’d be a rich man right now.”
