Nate Diaz has not fought in the Ultimate Fighting Championship Octagon since Aug. 20, 2016 in his loss against Conor McGregor at UFC 202 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Though it has only been six months, Diaz believes he is being "put on the shelf" purposefully by the mixed martial arts promotion and he is frustrated about it.
The 31-year-old fighter, who holds the only victory against McGregor, told the Los Angeles Times that he is trying to get a boxing license to get back to fighting since he is being bench by the UFC. However, Diaz said in the past that he would only fight McGregor to complete their trilogy but the Irish fighter is on a hiatus as he is attending to his pregnant who will give birth to their first child this year.
UFC president Dana White said the exact same thing, noting that Diaz told him that he will only come back in the Octagon if it is against the reigning UFC lightweight champion. Also, White said that the Ultimate Fighter 5 winner has not contacted him, adding that if a guy wants to fight, they will call him.
Diaz and McGregor engaged in two of the most lucrative pay per view fights in UFC history when Diaz blemished McGregor's then-undefeated record at UFC 196 in March with a submission win but suffered a majority decision loss at UFC 202 in August. Those two fights raked in more than 3.2 million combined in pay per view buys.
Diaz, after the success of the two blockbuster bouts against McGregor, once said that he would only come back to the Octagon if he is offered a $20 million payday but UFC commentator Joe Rogan believes the UFC will not give Diaz what he demands, Sports Joe reported. Rogan reasoned that even though Diaz became one of the biggest stars in the company after submitting McGregor, he still is not a title holder and does not have the ability to draw the same attention and pay per view buys like McGregor.
Watch the video below for Diaz's 2016 highlights: