Nate Diaz recently made peace with Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) President Dana White and the rest of the higher ups at ZUFFA by ending his year-long holdout.
Though he didn't get a raise or a new contract, he did get the top-five opponent he asked for, as Nate was booked to take on Rafael dos Anjos -- the No. 3 ranked lightweight in the world -- in the co-main event of UFC on FOX 13, which goes down on Dec. 13, 2014 in Phoenix, Arizona.
Question is, after all the huffing and puffing, why did UFC give Nate, who is 1-2 in his last three fights, removed from the rankings, and sitting on the sidelines writing sad stories, a co-main event spot on national television if he doesn't move the needle?
That's what Mike Kogan, Nate's manager, wants to know (via Instagram):
So first they lie, then they trash my boy @natediaz209 in public saying he's scared to fight, he's not that good, he's 1-2, he doesn't move the needle and then they put him as a co-main event on a Nationally Televised Fox card, I wonder why ? Maybe cause then main event would make fans turn the channel? Maybe, maybe not that's for fans to decide....
Personally, I think the main event showdown between hard-hitting heavyweights Junior dos Santos and Stipe Miocic is actually going to be a good scrap.
Kogan, who at times was at the center of all the controversy between Diaz and UFC, wasted little time in standing up for his boy when Dana White tried to downplay his needle-moving abilities and declaring that he could care less if he sat out for the rest of his career.
Of course, his comments were met by a rebuttal from one very heated UFC president, who accused Kogan -- dubbed a "scumbag" -- for ruining Nate's career. And despite the fact that Nate and UFC are now on amicable terms, Kogan is still a little bothered by the way everything went down.
I guess not all is well that ends well.