UFC president Dana White responded to recent comments made by welterweight fan favorite Nate Diaz in a recent interview saying the fight promotion is holding him hostage.
“I was trying to get this sh*t on the road, but they don’t want me out of contract and they’re keeping me in there and they’re holding me hostage,” Diaz said last week on The MMA Hour. “And I want out. That’s my main objective here.”
White fired back at Diaz on Saturday during the UFC Long Island Post-fight Press Conference at UBS Arena in Elmont, New York.
“When isn’t Nate Diaz saying something crazy? I’ve said this a million times and I’ll say it again, we can’t hold guys hostage,” White said. “It’s not possible. I owe you three fights a year. If I don’t fight you three times a year I have to pay you. How can I hold him hostage?”
“I have to get him three fights a year. I offer fights. He either accepts them, or turns them down. Obviously I’m not paying him, so I’ve offered him fights,” White said.
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White grew irritated with the line of questioning and refused to say definitively whether Diaz has turned down fight offers.
“This is the bullsh*t game I’m not going to play. I’m not going to play this f**king game where you ask me, ‘oh, let’s talk more about Nate Diaz,’ and then you’re going to go out and write f**king, or whoever is watching this, ‘oh, he’s turned down fights,” White said. “I’m not playing that game.”
White was asked to clarify the three fights a year contractual obligation of the fight promotion. Specifically, he was questioned what happens if a fighter is offered a fight and his opponent turns it down.
“If Nate accepts a fight and his opponent turns it down then we go for another opponent,” White said. “We would offer him another fight. If somebody didn’t want to fight him then we would offer him another fight. It’s very rare we get into situations where you get a fight like that and the guy turns a fight like that down.”
Dana White responds to Nate Diaz: ‘We can’t hold guys hostage’
