Conor McGregor vs. Nate Diaz Rematch on Ice After Bad Day in Stockton
Following a meeting with Conor McGregor on Wednesday night that, by all accounts, went well, UFC president Dana White and CEO Lorenzo Fertitta flew to Stockton, Calif., on Friday to meet with Nate Diaz.
The hope was to put the final touches on the rematch between McGregor and Diaz, which was originally slated for UFC 200. After pulling the fight from that card following a public falling out between McGregor and the UFC over promotional duties, White and Fertitta have been trying to put the fight back together for UFC 202 in August.
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Although things seemingly went well with McGregor, TMZ reported on Friday that Dana White got up and stormed out of the lunch meeting with Diaz and his manager, Lloyd Pierson.
“Our Stockton spies — yeah, we got those — tell us Dana, Nate and a couple of suits were all friendly as they chowed down, but the talk got serious and ended abruptly when Dana was visibly angry, stood up and beelined it for his SUV,” the TMZ Sports report said.
“Unclear what torpedoed the meeting, but we’ve covered this stuff long enough to know it usually involves money. We know Conor was poised to score a $10 mil payday for a rematch. We don’t know what Nate wants.”
Diaz later posted a photo of him, White and Fertitta in front of a mural of him in Stockton, everyone looking fine. That apparently wasn't exactly an indicator that all is well on the Western Front.
“Wasn't a good day,” White characterized the meeting in a text to ESPN reporter Brett Okamoto that he later tweeted.
Not only is the status of the fight up in the air, but so is McGregor's return to the Octagon, which initially seemed to be all about getting things on the right track with the Irish superstar. Now that they are having trouble coming to terms with Diaz, White and Fertitta are left to determine what direction to turn.
Do they continue to try and work things out with Diaz or do they see if McGregor will take another fight to get back in the Octagon?
Although it is probably as much noise floating through the ether, there is also a TMZ report that said retired boxer Floyd Mayweather is complicating the situation by offering McGregor $50 million for a boxing match with him on New Year's Eve in Las Vegas. Though that is highly unlikely to become anything more than speculation, it distracts from the UFC's matter at hand.
