Jorge Masvidal has some problems with Nate Diaz.
On June 1, Masvidal and Diaz face off in a 10-round boxing match at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles. The bout was rumored for some time but only came together officially in March, and according to Masvidal, a lot of that was due to difficulty in negotiating with Diaz.
“At one point, because Vegas was booked out, a lot of places were booked out, New York was a strong possibility and he was like, ‘I won’t fight if it’s in New York. I won’t fight.’ I was like, what the f***?” Masvidal said Monday on The MMA Hour. “What’s the beef? This is boxing. That was in MMA [where] you got your ass whooped. But I get it. Alright.
“Then another diva moment, he said he also wouldn’t fight if the fight’s in Miami. ‘I’m not fighting if it’s in Miami.’ OK, cool. ‘Well, last time I had a bad experience with my boxing match in Texas, so I’m not fighting in Texas.’ What the f***?! To book a venue of that magnitude, it’s not like it can happen in a week or a weekend. It happens months in advance. ... So all these problems and it’s like, dude, I’m just trying to f****** fight. What are you trying to do? It could have been in April in a different place, but this dude wasn’t trying to do it, so that just felt very diva-ish.”
Those aren’t the only issues Masvidal has with Diaz, though.
The two originally fought each other for the inaugural “BMF” title fight at UFC 244 in 2019, and Masvidal won by doctor stoppage at the end of the third round. But despite his victory, Masvidal says Diaz is demanding A-side treatment from the promotion.
“Then other things that keep dropping in the press that are all on the contract side,” Masvidal explained. “Like, it’s ‘Nate Diaz-Masvidal.’ Well, I damn nearly killed you, so that means I’m supposed to get these little privileges. It’s supposed to say Masvidal [first]. But instead of trying to negotiate, he’s like, ‘I’m not fighting if it’s not like that.’ So the promoter is getting back to me, telling me, ‘There’s no budging there. He’s just not going to fight. He says he’ll just move on and go fight somebody else.’ Bro, do you want to fight? I’ve got numerous other [examples of] motives not to fight. So it just makes me question, maybe he don’t want this heat, bro.
“Wanted his name first, walkout second, at the weigh-ins he has to weigh in last,” Masvidal continued. “Brother, you didn’t win the last fight. What the f*** are you talking about? A lot of me was like, ‘Eff that.’ Because there was a big chance the fight was going to be in Miami, I was really pushing for Miami — obviously I did so well there in the UFC — and Nate was like, ‘I’m not going to fight in Miami. I’m not going to fight in Miami.’ And I have to walk out first? Is this guy r*******? How would you walk out last in my city? I am not going to walk out first in my city against you. I already mopped you up. So these things are making me question his f****** motives. Do you want to scrap or what, bro?”
Ultimately, Masvidal said he agreed to Diaz’s terms because he “wants to f****** beat his ass” and Diaz’s demands are pretty minor. There is one thing, though, that really did bother Masvidal: The date.
Diaz vs. Masvidal takes place on the same day as UFC 302, headlined by a lightweight title fight between Islam Makhachev and Dustin Poirier. Masvidal believes counter-programming the UFC with a pay-per-view event is not the best idea, and given what he and Diaz both stand to make as part of the promotion, this is the point that angered Masvidal the most.
“Even with this date, we could have pushed it back a week once the UFC announced they’re going to go June 1,” Masvidal said. “And I was willing to go Memorial [Day] weekend, the weekend before, but he was like, ‘No, I already announced on my Instagram we’re fighting on this day. I don’t give a f*** about the UFC, we’ll go head-to-head with them.’ That’s just not good business. I’m a f****** promoter, he claims to be a promoter — that’s just not good business. There’s absolutely nothing that weekend, we could take over that weekend.
“I’m trying to sell pay-per-views. I finally carved something nice out for myself where I’m getting a good amount of the pay-per-view, boxing style. I have a great guarantee, but the back end could be way bigger than the guarantee, so why not go when there’s absolutely nothing? But this dude is like, ‘I’m not employed by the UFC, I don’t give a f*** about the UFC, we’ll go head-to-head with them.’ This is stupid to me. This is bad business. So for all these reasons, I’m a little extra amped up, because now you’re f****** with my pockets on top of it. I don’t want to go against the UFC.”
Masvidal promises that extra energy is going to show itself in the ring. Because while Diaz may have been demure at their first press conference on Friday, he’s not going to have that option come June.
“I felt like he didn’t want to be there,” Masvidal said. “And I get it, maybe he had weed to smoke and f****** vegan plates to eat or something. But his energy, the way I was reading, was like he didn’t want to be there.
“He knows one thing — whether I’m in shape or not, I’m coming to fight. If you pull that s*** you pulled out with [Jake Paul], you show up like that to our fight, you know what’s going to happen — and it’s going to happen rather quick, because I’m going to put the pressure on you right away. I’m not going to let you slide for 10 rounds coming in off the couch like that. That’s not the same Nate Diaz we’re accustomed to in the UFC. I don’t think he took Jake seriously at all. So I hope he’s been preparing and getting himself ready for war, because he knows that’s just the way I roll, the way I scrap. I’m trying to kill your ass.”
