Hold the phone on a Nick Diaz comeback fight.
Last month, UFC president Dana White told ESPN that Diaz had agreed to fight Jorge Masvidal at UFC 235 on March 2 in Las Vegas. The fight would mark his first in four years.
The news sent shockwaves throughout the sport, considering how popular Diaz is. However, since then, Diaz has not acknowledged the booking publicly, and when contacted by ESPN Saturday night, he denied accepting the fight or any fight, for that matter.
“I think it’s rude of the UFC to try and lowball me and expect me to negotiate a deal while I’m training for a fight,” Diaz said via text message. “It’s not gonna go down like that. If anybody wants to fight me they know where to find me. I’m not a hard guy to find. Come get some.
“I have a lot going on trying to manage a few different businesses. Once things make sense for everybody in that they actually have some fighters that they respect and I respect, we can try and come to a deal and do a show. That’s how I feel.”
Diaz reiterated multiple times that he has no issues with Masvidal, he just did not agree to fight him. According to sources close to Masvidal, the veteran already signed a bout agreement to fight Diaz.
Diaz, 35, hasn’t fought since his January 2015 fight against Anderson Silva. Despite the layoff, he hasn’t closed the door on a return to action.
“As soon as I am in a good place with what I’m working on and things look the way it should, I’ll be happy to give the fans what they need. But I think they will be OK for now with what’s out there. There aren’t any fights for me until someone stands out.
“I’ll fight if they can be more reasonable, but, really, I didn’t even talk about what it would or could [take]. They are the one’s tripping.”
UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley has often talked about wanting to fight Diaz, dating back to their days in Strikeforce almost a decade ago. Though Diaz, the former Strikeforce welterweight champion, didn’t seem interested in fighting Woodley.
“I’ll walk through Woodley,” Diaz said. “He knows it. I didn’t need to say [in response to him]. That man has a life. I fight for one, like I always have.”