Will Nate Diaz show up at UFC 230?

The UFC’s brief history in New York City as of this moment has always resulted in success. Both UFC 205 and UFC 217 resulted in big revenue increases, while also proving memories that will last a lifetime. This year, fireworks are being set off heading into the event, and not the party kind.

Nate Diaz is scheduled to return to the octagon for the first time in two years at UFC 230 inside Madison Square Garden. His opponent is Dustin Poirier, who beat Eddie Alvarez at UFC on Fox 30 just a few short weeks ago. Leading up to the UFC 25th Anniversary Press Conference, everything seemed fine on all fronts. That is until a familiar Irishman made the news yet again.

As a late announcement, Conor McGregor would also be returning to face Khabib Nurmagomedov for the UFC Lightweight Title at UFC 229. This appeared to piss Nate off, setting up a few shots on Twitter against the company that he is a part of. Some of these tweets were posted immediately after the McGregor announcement.

I’m not fighting on that show fuk the @ufc

— Nathan Diaz (@NateDiaz209) August 3, 2018

I can’t commit when they actin like shit….

— Nathan Diaz (@NateDiaz209) August 8, 2018

Nate also spoke to TMZ after he blasted the UFC, saying the company should start over-promoting him and not under-promoting him.

So, this is not ideal at all, right? After finally dealing with legal issues and getting a fight where he can get paid, what could be wrong? If you haven’t noticed by now, the UFC has become an interesting place to work for, environment wise. In many cases, the inmates run the asylum, while some of the guards play favorites.

Nate could be upset about the fact that there was no news regarding Conor until the press conference was over. He either wanted a true money fight in Conor for the trilogy, or he wanted to get more money and fight on the Conor card, which he wasn’t told about. If that is the case, he would be missing out on extra PPV revenue and an early title opportunity. It is another case of the UFC and Nate not coming to terms with what they both believe to be ideal business decisions.

This could all be one big ploy by Nate to get him paid more than he already is. After all, that is the name of the game in the combat sports world, especially today. Or, he could be legitimately pissed off, putting UFC 230 in jeopardy of losing its co-main event. Can the two settle their differences in time? With enough time until the event, anything can happen

Will this end up being one of the most exhausting, but fun games of chess ever to be played? In the end, it just seems unlikely that Diaz loses out on a payday after missing action for that long. Like the UFC, I’m calling his bluff, and expect to see Diaz in a cab heading to The Garden by the time November 3rd rolls around.