Ever since Nate Diaz pummeled Conor McGregor on the ground and then choked him, he's been placed in all the open slots left in McGregor's absence. You name it, Diaz has done it now: Conan O'Brien, Esquire, pranking people on Jimmy Kimmell and even chilling with celebrities. After his long hard career, things are finally paying off-literally-and Diaz is not settling for anything less than filet mignon now that he's tasted it. Of course, on the UFC 202 media conference call, McGregor was eager to claim Diaz learned from him.
"I wasn't following the leader on making some money here. I'm going to get my money regardless. I'm going to get where I'm at regardless but I'm going to say that he was a shortcut," Diaz said.
With a list of guys like Tyron Woodley, a returning GSP, Eddie Alvarez and even Diaz's elder brother only wanting "money fights", Nate knows that is the direction he needs to stay or he's done. "If I'm going to get a big payday or going to have a big fight, then I'll fight. If not, I'm not going to f-ck around no more," Diaz said.
"I've fought everybody in the UFC, been fighting forever. So if I'm going fight, it's going to be for a big-deal fight, not just a fight," Diaz said. "I was ahead of everybody as far as a following in the UFC, I was the biggest draw, I was the biggest everything in every weight class. Then Conor came around and he was the biggest draw, he was getting a big push and the UFC was Conor McGregor. So if I'm going to fight somebody it's going to be a big deal, not just any fight just to fight cause I could make just as much outside the ring as in the ring."
Diaz's knowledge about the value of the dollar could be traced back to him winning the fifth season of The Ultimate Fighter. That was 21 fights and nearly a decade ago, but Diaz is just now reaching his peak value.
