Nate Diaz chose to accept a lower payday than the UFC’s offer for his upcoming return to fighting, Nakisa Bidarian has confirmed.
Diaz walked away from the UFC back in September 2022 after a long, tense stretch with the company and made his first move into boxing against Jake Paul. Now, three years later, he’s signed on again with Most Valuable Promotions to fight Mike Perry in Netflix’s highly anticipated MMA debut.
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Speaking to Bloody Elbow at MVPW1 in London over the weekend, Bidarian backed up Diaz’s earlier claim on Theo Von’s podcast that he accepted a smaller offer than what the UFC had on the table. He also hinted that a rematch with Paul could be coming once Paul is back from jaw surgery.
Diaz passed on the UFC’s offer to take Netflix fight
Photo by Kaelin Mendez/Getty Images
While there’s no doubt that MVP and Netflix are putting serious money behind their Los Angeles debut on 16 May, it may not be as big as some expect. Headliners Ronda Rousey and Gina Carano won’t come cheap, nor will Francis Ngannou.
But for Diaz, the decision wasn’t about a massive payday. Instead, he turned down a trilogy with Conor McGregor to face Perry and set up a rematch with Paul. He told Theo Von that the offer from MVP was actually less than what the UFC had put on the table.
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Bidarian explained: “The UFC really tried to sign Nate Diaz. When they said ‘Nate got an offer he couldn’t refuse,’ Nate was honest that we offered him less money than the UFC offered him.”
He went on: “But we gave him a fighter first mentality and a promise to work with him closely to be the best platform for his career… Nate’s not the co-promoter of this event but he is definitely fighting on behalf of Real Fight Inc who are providing his services.
“Look, he’s a legend in the game, right? Him and Mike Perry is certified action, certified entertainment and you can’t get no better than that. What did the UFC start their Paramount relationship with? Paddy Pimblett and Justin Gaethje.”
“Were those the two best fighters in the world? No, but they’re two of the most exciting, action-packed fighters that the UFC has. So it was a great product for that first event and I think Nate and Mike are going to give us the very same thing.”
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