Cesar Gracie, Nate Diaz’s trainer, believes that the UFC wants Diaz to lose for him to leave the company.
Since this will be Diaz’s final fight under his current UFC contract, many think the UFC purposefully placed him in a poor stylistic mismatch next.
On September 10, Diaz will compete in a five-round welterweight contest at UFC 279 against the master of freestyle wrestling Khamzat Chimaev. Many believe Chimaev will easily defeat Diaz because of Diaz’s past struggles against top-tier wrestlers.
Denis Shkuratov, the show’s presenter, said during Cesar Gracie’s recent appearance on Submission Radio that many fans believe the UFC is trying to punish the departing Diaz. He suggested that the UFC wants Chimaev, who they see as a potential superstar, to pick up some of Diaz’s star power. Shkuratov’s co-host Kacper Rosolowski also seemed to concur with him. Gracie said in response:
“Obviously, I’m not privy to what the UFC is talking about. But what you just described is exactly how I feel about it. So, what the fans are thinking is – It’s no secret – When you wanna leave the UFC, they wanna make sure you’re not gonna leave as a winner. They wanna make sure that you’re not gonna help another organization out is what I’m thinking.”
He also mentioned that Diaz could have fought against different opponents.
“So, the fights that made sense, with [Dustin] Poirier, and there’s a lot of other fights that made a lot more sense [than Chimaev], they [the UFC] said no to.”
According to Gracie, the UFC could have matched Diaz up against Michael Chandler or Dustin Poirier. Intriguingly, Poirier and Chandler have both recently made suggestions that they might switch from lightweight to welterweight. Like this, Diaz switched from lightweight to welterweight and has since been active in this division.
In the video below, starting at 11:31, Gracie discusses the subject:
Dana White on Nate Diaz possibly leaving the UFC
After his next bout, Nate Diaz has repeatedly stated that he is unlikely to re-sign with the UFC. Although he hasn’t ruled out a future return to the UFC, it seems likely that he will leave the organization soon.
Nate Diaz’s likely departure from the UFC following his next bout was brought up during Dana White’s Contender Series (DWCS) 47 post-fight press conference. White noted that it was always challenging to see fighters go.
“It’s one of those things in pro sports that s**ks. It eventually comes to an end and my big thing is all about getting people out at the right time. I like when we see people go at the right time but yes, at the same time it’s sad.”
View White’s evaluation below:
