Dana White Talks Diaz Brothers: It’ll Be A Sad Story When You Look Back On It
The Diaz brothers are notorious in the MMA world, partly for their intense and exciting fight style, but also for their antics outside the cage.it seems there is seldom a dull moment when Nick or Nate are involved, even with the older Diaz brother in retirement and Nate currently looking to join him.
Nate recently asked for his release from the promotion, citing pay issues as his main reason, but Dana White quickly shot that down. Speaking at the post fight scrum recently, DW discussed the situation with Nick and Nate:
“This is one of those situations that is going to be a sad story in a few years when you look back on it. You’re going to say they were two talented kids that had fans and had interest in fighting and they sat out. What people don’t realize when you’re in the moment and your time is now, guys don’t realize until it’s over. You will never make that kind of money again for the rest of your life. You should fight as much as you can possibly fight, get as popular as you can ever get and make as much money as you possibly can.”
Nick Diaz has been inactive since his 2013 loss to Georges St-Pierre, and is showing no signs of returning any time soon. He was recently in the headlines saying he wouldn’t fight for under 500K, which probably means we won’t see him fight ever again. White continued:
“With the Nate Diaz thing, he was in a position where he fought for the title. Then he fought again to put himself back in title contention and got knocked out in that fight,” White said. “Now he wants a new contract and a title shot and all that. It’s just not how this stuff works. You can sit out, you can talk all you want, you can tweet all you want and you can do whatever you want. The bus is going to pass you by and you’re going to be sitting there going, ‘What did I do?’ Or maybe they won’t.”
The shelf life of MMA fighters is a very short one, and I’d have to agree with White (*I puked a bit) on his assessment of Nate Diaz; he beat Gray Maynard impressively in November 2013, but it broke a two fight losing skid for Diaz. A title shot, in my opinion, is not deserved right now.
“They’re the kind of kids that, listen, you came from the mean streets and you guys are street guys and all that cool shit, I get it. But you gotta play the game a little bit, you can’t talk to these guys,” White said. “You can’t pick up the phone and call these guys. I talked to Nick, I offered him the Lombard fight, and he said he was interested in it, then gone – he disappears. You can’t contact him again. You can’t get a hold of him.”
Whatever the real reasons behind their absence from the sport, the Diaz brothers put on exciting fights. They may seem like, and possibly are, a pair of crazy 209 gang bangers; but you can’t deny their ability and exciting styles. Do you think they are demanding too much and wasting their primes, or could uncle Dana dig a little deeper?
