Of all the things left undone in the entire canon of buzzkills, not getting the third fight between Nate Diaz and Conor McGregor is right up there. As soon as it was announced that Diaz would be fighting Mike Perry on MVP’s first MMA card, which takes place in May, the rubber match between the rivals bounced forever out view.
OK, maybe not forever, as eventually McGregor will bust free of his UFC shackles, too, but it’s at least gone for the foreseeable future.
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There are many ways to feel about all of this, and to newer fans maybe indifference is one of them. Yet to the old heads, those who watched the first two record-breaking installments with a keen eye on a third, you can’t help but feel let down. The UFC had been negotiating with the 40-year-old Diaz to bring him back for the express purpose of doing the trilogy with McGregor, presumably for International Fight Week, yet they couldn’t get a deal done.
[Yahoo Fantasy Bracket Mayhem: Fill out brackets for your shot at $50K]
At this point, call those UFC’s decision-makers what you like, especially after hanging up on Jon Jones for the White House card. Skinflints. Cheapskates. Tight wads. Tightarses. D-teases. Killjoys. Hunter Campbells. They all fit.
Whatever derogatory word you choose, you can now add Nate’s name to the “Lowball Club” that’ll be gathering in Los Angeles come May. Francis Ngannou. Ronda Rousey. Gina Carano. Nate Diaz. All of them could’ve been fighting on upcoming UFC cards, yet instead will be doing their damndest to make sure MVP’s foray into MMA dwarfs anything the UFC puts on. Netflix, which will stream the fights live on May 16, is available in a lot of homes.
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A. Lot. Of. Homes.
And the trilogy that had hovered in the MMA space for a decade is dead. Or maybe not dead dead, but dead for eight-sided cages. McGregor is 37 years old and has two fights left on his UFC deal. He turns 38 in July.
Nate Diaz vs. Conor McGregor 3 is the fight that got away.
(Josh Hedges via Getty Images)
Though Diaz has maintained a friendly relationship with the UFC, even as they tried to kill him off against Khamzat Chimaev in 2022 before he bolted for the boxing ring, he may have just shut the door forever on a return. Ultimatums are the language that the UFC speaks, and Diaz has never been fluent. His insubordination was what got him involved with McGregor to begin with, as he jumped the line to face the Irishman when Rafael dos Anjos was forced out of their lightweight title bout at UFC 196 with an injury. All Diaz did was say, “Conor McGregor, you’ve taken everything I’ve worked for, motherf***er” after beating Michael Johnson, and the seeds were planted.
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From there we were off on the greatest detour in UFC history.
Diaz went out and beat McGregor, right in the white-hot center of Conor’s prime. He went way off script dealing McGregor that first loss, yet it was blockbuster development. The rematch that took place at UFC 202 a little over five months later shattered pay-per-view records as McGregor got his revenge. By the second fight, the two were aligned in a business sense. They knew the value of their pairing, and they made it clear. The third fight seemed inevitable.
That was a decade ago, and they have detoured a million miles since then. Diaz created the BMF title out of thin air, and later escaped the UFC. McGregor won a title in a second weight class against Eddie Alvarez, made a fortune on a lark in the boxing ring against Floyd Mayweather, made a dolly crack the window of a bus in Brooklyn, made every tabloid headline under the sun for all the wrong reasons, made Dustin Poirier into a cult hero, made Dillon Danis into whatever it is Dillon Danis is, and made his fanbase wait five years to see him fight again.
Who was out there that made more sense that Nate Diaz for his return? Nate Diaz, who turns 41 in April. Nate Diaz, who was available. Instead, in a year of consolation prizes in the UFC’s matchmaking department, the UFC will have to pivot when it comes to McGregor’s return. Perhaps they will figure out a rematch with Max Holloway, who didn’t get the fight he expected against Charles Oliveira for the BMF. As far as consolation prizes go, that’s not a bad one.
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Just as Diaz against Perry is just about as good of a fight as you can put together outside the UFC. Mike Perry’s second act outside the UFC has been as improbable as it has been lucrative. Even as he’s under contract with BKFC and helping run the Dirty Boxing Championship, he is free to go make a nice bag with Netflix and MVP. They are calling the White House card UFC Freedom 250. But MVP’s first MMA card is what career freedom looks like.
The detour that brought Diaz and McGregor together now looks like a permanent detour away from each other. Or so it seems, at least in the UFC. McGregor will fight Holloway or someone else, as we’ll soon find out.
And in Diaz’s case, well, at least the grass really is greener on the other side.
