Coach: Diaz wants $20 million for trilogy fight

Conor McGregor indicated that the next contest he wants is a trilogy fight with Nate Diaz. Notorious insists it has to be at lightweight. Diaz took the first McGregor fight on little more than a week’s notice, so it was made at welterweight. And for superstition, McGregor wanted the rematch at 170. McGregor is never going to get a job at a circus estimating weight – he said that Diaz weighed 190 in the Octagon. In fact, outside of the two McGregor fights, Nate Diaz has fought at lightweight since 2011. So Diaz will take the fight at 155. However, weight is not the issue, money is.

I’m only fighting at lightweight for a big fight or 20 million just to take the call, texted Diaz to Ariel Helwani late last year. Until then, I’m just living my life.

While that seems like a fanciful number, it was repeated by Diaz’s longtime boxing coach Richard Perez during a recent interview with Submission Radio.

When he said $20 million, you think he’s joking?” asked Perez. “He’s not joking if he’s gonna fight Eddie Alvarez and them, because he’s the one that’s gonna draw the crowd. And people are curious because they know what McGregor did to Eddie Alvarez. So they’re gonna be curious about what can Nathan do to him. So of course. It’s common sense that the business is just corrupt and it makes me mad that they don’t treat everybody equally. They don’t treat the ones that deserve it. And he deserves it.

At least $20 million, $30 million. Come on. UFC’s making a whole lot of money, a whole lot of money and they’re pocketing it. They’re giving more to McGregor, so it’s not fair because it takes two in that ring to draw a crowd – I mean, a good two fighters. It’s just like Mayweather when he fought Berto. It was not even sold out at all. It was embarrassing. It’s because that guy couldn’t draw a crowd. See, that’s what I’m saying, it’s the fighters that draw the crowd, and Nathan and McGregor, third one would be outstanding. Everyone knows that. So he needs to get paid at least $30 million easy.

“It should be big time pay. This third one should be big time. He should get way more. If he fights McGregor again, a lot more. They should be together, not just a big gap. Because you know it and I know it and everyone knows that would be a draw of a crowd. I mean, it would be outrageous because they’ve fought twice already and they need that third one and people will pay to see that. They will pay.”

The coach was asked to speculate why the UFC wouldn’t pay Diaz.

Your answer is as good as mine,” he replied. “I get puzzled about it too thinking what the heck? Why are they just picking McGregor when they got Nathan and they’ve got Nick that draws a crowd, yet they choose one guy and they just pick him up and carry him through? It doesn’t make sense to me. It doesn’t make sense to a lot of people. A lot of people tell me that. But I can’t do anything about it, it’s the UFC and Dana White.

“Dana White says, ‘Oh yeah, I offered him a fight.’ Yeah, he did. He offered Nick a fight, two, three of them. He offered Nathan. But they’re not gonna go down on pay. If he did that to McGregor, McGregor would be very upset.

Perez also said that Diaz got a boxing license to step into to MayMac if either party dropped out or wouldn’t sign.

“Nathan was getting his license to try to get in there because we thought maybe it wasn’t gonna happen,” said Perez. “McGregor has his license, they can do it. But it did happen, Mayweather and McGregor.

In a novel suggestion, the coach even suggested McGregor face Diaz in the boxing ring, rather than the Octagon.

I would love him to fight Nathan Diaz in a boxing match,” said Perez. “That’s what I want to see, but they’re not gonna allow it, I don’t think. But they should. I mean, that would be a good one because Nathan can really box. When it comes to boxing, just nothing but boxing, he’s awesome and he spars with Andre Ward, you know, he spars a lot of top fighters that want to spar with him.

“It’s up to Nathan, what he wants to do, if he wants the trilogy or the boxing. It’s where the money’s at. If people are gonna pay more money to watch the trilogy, that’d be awesome. If they want to pay to watch the boxing match, let’s do it. It’s all about money, that’s their job. So they’re trying to go out to get the most money they can. That’s how they got McGregor and Mayweather.

When the talk dies down, there will be a trilogy fight in the Octagon, and then a lot more talk.