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Nathan Diaz Says He Wants Michael Chandler Fight, Tells UFC to 'Send a Contract'
May 10, 2022
Nate Diaz hasn't fought a UFC match since he lost to Leon Edwards in June 2021, but he is ready to get back inside the Octagon against Michael Chandler.
Diaz shared an image with tweets from himself and Chandler suggesting they are ready to fight. His tweet read: "UFC got me on ice for a year now chandlers obviously ready to fight send a contract it's time".
While the image made it seem like a collaborative effort to set up a fight, Chandler also tweeted the following: "Hey @natediaz209 ...shut up and stop complaining. Keep your mouth shut. Keep your head down until your daddy books a fight for you to get your sacrificial dome bounced off the canvas again. Maybe it'll be me...if you're lucky. See you at the top!"
Andrew Richardson of MMA Mania summarized the "ongoing saga" regarding Diaz's next fight, which is all the more notable because it is the last one on his UFC contract.
Richardson suggested it being the final one has "delayed or outright prevented" potential showdowns against the likes of Vicente Luque, Tony Ferguson and Dustin Poirier since "UFC remains insistent on Khamzat Chimaev as Diaz's final fight."
In December, Diaz told TMZ Sports he felt disrespected that UFC wants him to fight Chimaev.
"They're coming at me with [Khamzat], and I'm like, 'hold on, don't disrespect me like that, trying to offer me a fight with a rookie,'" he said. "I'm cool, you got four fights in the UFC. Don't even talk my name."
Despite that dismissiveness, Chimaev is now 11-0-0 after an April victory over Gilbert Burns.
As for Chandler, the 23-7-0 fighter has plenty of momentum on his side after a dramatic knockout win over Tony Ferguson on Saturday. He even called out Conor McGregor in a post-fight interview and said he wanted to fight the star at 170 pounds.
That could leave Diaz, who hasn't won since August 2019, searching for his next and final opponent if it happened.