He told you so, Nate Diaz makes critics eat their words and crowns himself the new UFC Featherweight champion after victory over a gutsy Conor McGregor.
On Saturday night at UFC 196, Diaz (19-10) rocked Las Vegas to its core with his shock second round submission win over perennial UFC posterboy McGregor (19-3).
14,898 were in attendence at The MGM Grand Garden Arena in one of the most shocking nights in UFC history. The live gate drew $8.1 million – the second highest gate the UFC have put on in Las Vegas, only behind UFC 194: Aldo vs. McGregor which generated a little over $10m.
With Diaz securing the biggest win of his career, on merely 11 days notice, the complexity of the situation doesn’t get any easier. The 145lb champion McGregor, originally slated to move up and fight Lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos, ended up on the losing side of a 170lb match-up.
Despite the loss, McGregor’s options remain relatively open. He admitted his still holds aspirations to fight at 155 and 170lbs in the future but conceded to the fact that the Featherweight division is where he has to be right now – with potential fights against former champion Jose Aldo or divisional number one Frankie Edgar more than possible for UFC 200 in July.
As for Diaz, one could argue a Welterweight or Lightweight title fight could be in order, but as of right now the Stockton bad-boy is happy to parade around with his (lineal) Featherweight title and wait for ‘money talks’ to begin once again. Who knows, even UFC President Dana White thinks ‘we might never see’ Diaz step back into the Octagon.
Speaking to UFC reporter Megan Olivi, Diaz said: “Well I’m the 145lb champ now, so I guess I’ll be the champion of that division for a while. And then, I don’t know man, time will tell, money talks, we’ll see what happens.”
Of course, it typical Diaz Bros. fashion, when asked what he was going to do with his biggest career pay check to-date, 30 year old Nate simply responded: “F— I don’t know, buy a Yaht.”
Alongside his career best $500,000 purse, Diaz also walked away with $100,000 in bonuses for Performance and Fight of the Night, whilst also netting a cool $20,000 from Reebok Athlete Outfitting pay. McGregor on the other hand walked away with the UFC’s first ever $1m purse, but is slated to make around $10m through various other revenue.
