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08th May 2018

Dana White’s plans for Nate Diaz’s next fight are not what you’d expect

This is peak MMA

Darragh Murphy

It was always going to take something big to tempt Nate Diaz back to the Octagon.

After growing accustomed to the significantly larger paydays that come with fights against Conor McGregor, Diaz hasn’t fought in almost two years.

The Stockton lightweight has been sitting pretty on his UFC 202 payday since 2016 but, given the organisation’s scarcity of superstars right now, talks have been taking place to have Diaz return in the coming months.

UFC President Dana White has sensationally revealed that the promotion is in the process of putting together an unexpected lightweight match-up between Diaz and former welterweight and middleweight champion Georges St-Pierre.

“We are working right now to try and put together a GSP-versus-Nate Diaz fight,” White said on UFC Unfiltered. “It is true, and they would fight at 155lbs.”

The fight would take place on the UFC 227 card, which will be headlined by a grudge rematch between TJ Dillashaw and Cody Garbrandt for the bantamweight title, but an agreement has yet to be reached.

St-Pierre returned following a four-year hiatus last November and choked out Manchester’s Michael Bisping to claim the UFC’s 185lbs title, becoming only the fourth fighter in the organisation’s history to have won titles in two different weight classes.

A cut to 155lbs sounds ambitious but the storyline is definitely in place to see St-Pierre meet Diaz, having previously beaten his older brother Nick for the welterweight title back in 2013.