Nate Diaz and Eddie Alvarez…
They had a chance to fight earlier on…
2015 in fact…
Most of the interest in the fight stemmed from a backstage scuffle that the two got into during UFC 188…
But the bout was pushed aside… It never happened…
Introducing the great Nate Diaz, watch as he lays into Eddie Alvarez, and explains why the fight will NEVER happen…
With your MMA Hour host as usual, Ariel Helwani…
“They texted me about the Eddie Alvarez fight,” Diaz said. “And I’m just like pshht. Eddie Alvarez had his chance. Remember when I seen him in Mexico and I called him out? I was like I want to fight him the next day.”
Nate Diaz beat Michael Johnson in the December of 2015, he then came into the picture out of nowhere to go against “The Notorious” Conor McGregor at UFC 196 last year in March, and then he did the unthinkable, after both fighters bloodied each other up in the first round, Nate handily slipped in a rear naked choke under Conor’s chin in the second round.
Conor would later return to retake the title from Diaz, but Nate had definitely made his mark…
The events that ensued after McGregor won back the 155lb belt involved Conor calling out Alvarez, by then the UFC lightweight champion, and then Alvarez getting handily KO’d by McGregor’s swift hands…
“I just laughed,” (When the UFC asked about the Eddie Alvarez Diaz said. “‘Do you want the Eddie Alvarez fight?’ How dare you. He just got melted by the guy I just beat up. He just got plumbed by Conor and I just beat Conor’s ass. I just laughed at them, like ‘Get the f*ck out of here, call me with some real sh*t.’”
Diaz believes he knows why the UFC offered him that fight. He said a few days after he laughed it off, he got an e-mail saying his contract had been extended six months. UFC fighters have provisions in their contracts allowing the UFC to lengthen contracts if they don’t accept fights by a certain time.
“You guys just offered me that fight that you knew I wasn’t gonna take so you can extend my contract, because it was almost over,” Diaz said. “My time was almost up on my contract. You get your loophole. Don’t be trying to play me.”
“You had your chance,” Diaz said of the former UFC 155-pound champion. “That’s not a fighter. You’re not a fighter. … You didn’t want the fight. You had your chance.”
