Nick Jonas (left) heads to UFC 205. UFC lightweight Nate Diaz had to purchase his tickets to the event.
Nate Diaz: UFC didn’t want me at UFC 205, gave Nick Jonas my seat
Nate Diaz: UFC didn’t want me at UFC 205, gave Nick Jonas my seat
Nate Diaz has proven his worth as a “money fighter” after his two headlining pay-per-view bouts with Conor McGregor did astounding numbers for the organization. But, the brash lightweight who occasionally comes in at welterweight said that he asked to be at UFC 205 and was given the cold shoulder as he told ESPN’s Brett Okamoto.
Diaz told Okamoto that he asked UFC President Dana White for tickets to the blockbuster event and White told him there was no room.
“As soon as [McGregor wins], hundreds of people are turning around and staring at me,” said Diaz, who watched from a club box at Madison Square Garden. “I’m like, ‘Hey, what do you want me to do? The UFC didn’t even want to give me tickets to this fight. I think they gave Nick Jonas my seat.”
Hey @DDLovato 👋🏻✋🏻👋🏻 Oh hey @NickJonas 😏 #UFC205 pic.twitter.com/rwmk7Iec10
— UFC (@ufc) November 13, 2016
Diaz was in fact in attendance on Saturday night, however it was not provided to him courtesy the UFC. The Ultimate Fighter season 5 winner had to pay for the tickets on his own accord. As soon as McGregor defeated Eddie Alvarez to claim the UFC lightweight title most everyone immediately thought a rubber match with Diaz would be the next move.
“The UFC knows that’s a bad idea for him,” Diaz said. “Why didn’t I get tickets to this fight? I said, ‘I’ll leave him alone. I don’t want to fight the guy. Just let me get a seat.’ Me and my brother, they didn’t want to let either one of us in here.
“They want to hide me out, I think. Put him on more of a pedestal than they have already. It’s whatever though.”
Diaz did congratulate McGregor on his win however, even showing up at the Irishman’s after party.
“People question me, ‘Hey, when you gonna fight No. 3?'” Diaz said. “I know that everybody needs to see that. If I’m gonna do something, that’s what I’m gonna do — but I’m not begging for it. If anybody should be asking for the fight, it should be him. He’s the one that has something to prove.
“Congratulations to Conor. He did a great job, got the two belts — but I just know that me and him both know what happened in [our] fights and that ‘greatest of all time’ stuff needs to just come to an end. I don’t remember any of the greatest of all times getting worked over like [he was] in the last two fights.”
