There may not be much in the way of closed door negotiations happening, but the public message is clear. The UFC is not waiting for Nick and Nate Diaz.
hen Nate Diaz's agent said that they were "kinda all in limbo" over Nate Diaz's contract, what he really meant was that Nate was in limbo. The UFC has no real interest in waiting for Nate to make a move one way or the other. Dana White spelled out the message pretty clearly for the gathered press after UFC Fight Night Brown vs. Silva. At the heart of his sentiments was the message, "the world moves on, man." (transcription via MMAWeekly.com)
“Whether you’re talking about baseball, basketball, football, mixed martial arts, boxing, the world moves on. If tonight is my last night and I walk out off this stage and I’m done, the UFC isn’t going anywhere,” he said. “The UFC is gonna keep rolling without me. And the same with the Diaz brothers.
“Nate Diaz just signed a new deal and he won one fight out of his last three fights and wants more money and wants a title shot and wants this and wants that. That’s really not the way it works. We’re just sitting here tonight talking about how Matt Brown has won seven fights in a row. Matt Brown doesn’t have a title shot yet. Nate Diaz is far from seven in a row.”
This was more or less to be the expected reaction from UFC brass. White went on to say that he's sad to see Nick and Nate wasting the opportunity to make money from fighting (although it could be argued that the "make money" part is why they're not leaping at the opportunity in the first place), but he went on to say that he's not frustrated and that he "can’t make grown men fight.”
The UFC has built a pretty clear business model over the past half decade or so, of being a brand first entity. There may be two or three fighters that they would really open the check book for and try and please, but they'd be loath to admit even that. Outside of the most important promotional names, it's hard to picture the UFC yielding an inch they don't absolutley have to. As much as fans and very likely the UFC itself, may enjoy promoting the Diaz brothers, they're just not going to be counted among the invaluable few. The UFC can afford to talk tough here, even if the immediate result is a little less drawing power on the books.
(source: http://www.### blocked site ###.com/2014/5/11/5707772/ufc-dana-white-says-ufc-will-roll-on-without-nick-and-nate-diaz-mma-news)
Statistics: Posted by mmacanada — May 12. 2014, 04:25 — Replies 0 — Views 5
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