Manager: Nate Diaz turned down proposed UFC fight against Edson Barboza

Edson Barboza won his second straight fight inside the Octagon by outpointing Bobby Green at the UFC Fight Night 57: "Edgar vs. Swanson" event at the Frank Erwin Center in Austin, Texas, back on Nov. 22, 2014.

Full video highlights here.

It was a bout that only came together because Barboza's original opponent, Nate Diaz, turned the fight down, according to manager Alex Davis, though he provided no reasoning behind it.

His words (via MMA Fighting):

"He was supposed to fight Nate Diaz, but Nate didn't accept the fight."

Much like UFC's uniform deal with Reebok, I guess Nate doesn't care much for their matchmaking skills, either.

While that opportunity vanished, Davis says he is still hoping Barboza and Diaz square up inside the Octagon, as he is eyeing the winner of the Diaz vs Rafael dos Anjos bout, which is expected to go down at UFC on FOX 13 on Dec. 13, 2014 in Phoenix, Arizona.

If not, well then there are plenty of other lightweight contenders.... and champions, that can lose to Edson.

"We won't look to opponents now. We have to beat anyone they put in front of us. Whatever they do, we will fight and win. We won't call this or that guy out. There's Rafael dos Anjos vs. Nate Diaz and a few other good fights now, so (Barboza) should fight the winner of one of them next. I think that (Diaz) would be an interesting fight to promote Barboza in the media because (Barboza) doesn't talk too much, so a fight with Nate Diaz would be good in that sense, but Bobby Green was also a great fight. There are many guys in this division, many tough fights. We'll have (Gilbert) Melendez vs. (Anthony) Pettis now, and there's (Khabib) Nurmagomedov, (Abel) Trujillo and many other fighters, and (Barboza) can beat every single one of them."

Bold.

If it was up to Edson himself, he'd love nothing more than to get a rematch against Donald Cerrone after "Cowboy" defeated him last April. But regardless of who he gets next, his manager is more than confident he can (and will) win.

Anyone (dis)agree?