With Nate Diaz in Baltimore to corner Yancy Medeiros in his fight against Jim Miller at UFC 172 on Saturday night, there was some curiosity as to whether Dana White had a chance to speak to the disgruntled lightweight about his future in the UFC.
And why not? The last we'd heard from Diaz was that he wanted to rework his contract for more pay, and that short of that he should be released. He had ranted to MMA Fighting that he was "embarrassed" fighting for "chump change" in the UFC, arguing that his contract was "completely f---ed up." His older brother, Nick, has a similar ongoing dispute with the UFC, saying that he'd only appear again if he was paid $500,000 or if the fight was for a title. Otherwise, he was still "retired."
At the UFC 172 post-fight scrum, White was asked if he'd had a chance to talk to Nate and if there was anything new on that front.
"I didn't, no," he said. "[But] I think Joe Silva did and Nate said he's ready to fight, so, he told Joe to call him."
That's quite a change from where things stood just a couple of weeks ago for Diaz, who last appeared in the Octagon in November when he knocked out Gray Maynard in Las Vegas. After the UFC matched the Bellator contract that his teammate Gilbert Melendez signed for bigger money and incentives, Diaz grew dissatisfied with his existing deal. Before the Maynard fight, Diaz had lost back-to-back fights to Josh Thomson and Benson Henderson (in a title fight).
As for Nick, White said he hasn't been in contact with the popular welterweight, either, and that there's nothing new to discuss.
"No Nick," he said. "No Nick. Nick's got a lot of money, man. I think Nick's just going to kick back until he has to fight."
Source: http://www.mmafighting.com/2014/4/27/5657758/dana-white-nate-diaz-said-hes-ready-to-fight-again