Nate Diaz may be getting his second UFC title shot before the end of 2017.
Although Nate Diaz fell short in his first quest for UFC gold, as far as the promotion was concerned, it was an overwhelming success.
His lightweight title fight against then-champion Benson Henderson in 2012 drew a whopping 5.7 million viewers on Fox Sports. At the time, it was the ninth-most watched MMA fight in US television history, a fairly exceptional feat considering that era featured the likes of Cain Velasquez and Kimbo Slice fighting on free-to-view TV.
If Diaz were to fight for a UFC championship again, considering all that has happened in the last couple of years, you can guarantee it would be a successful PPV. The UFC recognises that and are supposedly trying to capitalise on it.
Remarkable https://t.co/KbP5wlhScD
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) September 18, 2017
On Tuesday, rumours of an imminent Diaz return started doing the rounds after an Instagram post suggesting the Stockton native had begun a new fight camp was swiftly deleted by his strength and conditioning coach.
Considering that the huge end-of-year UFC 219 show has no main event with only six weeks to go, everyone instantly assumed that Diaz, who’s partly responsible for two of the promotion’s most successful PPVs ever, would be a shoe-in to be a headliner.
With welterweight king Tyron Woodley already teasing another fight before the year’s end, we put two-and-two together to come to the conclusion that these crazy new UFC owners could be looking to hand Diaz a shot at 170 lb to save the card.
It turns out our sneaky suspicion was true as MMAFighting’s Ariel Helwani confirmed that the big wigs were indeed considering booking Woodley vs Diaz for the headline act.
This was the rabbit in the hat I eluded to yesterday on the show. No deal yet, I’m told. They are getting creative. Couple other ideas, too. Event is 6 weeks away and no main event. https://t.co/96XuOBHzll
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) November 15, 2017
If this were to happen, Diaz would be granted a title shot in a division where he is 3-3 and coming off a loss. In comparison, Woodley is unbeaten in his last six trips to the Octagon scoring victories over Stephen Thompson, Robbie Lawler, Demian Maia, Kelvin Gastelum and Dong Hyun Kim.
Diaz hasn’t fought since dropping that majority decision to Conor McGregor in August 2016. Woodley has successfully defended his belt three times since then.
