It’s no secret that UFC President Dana White and lightweight star Nate Diaz have had their share of issues in the past - after all, Diaz once got to slap White - but when Diaz finally was set to return against Dustin Poirier at UFC 230, it looked like maybe their relationship would be back to business as usual. But now that Poirier has been removed from the card due to injury, and Diaz has chosen not to accept a short-notice replacement, it looks like their cold war is back on in full.

Speaking with ESPN recently, White addressed what was next for Diaz now that the Poirier fight has fallen through, and the UFC President didn’t sound optimistic, saying that he passed off dealing with the Diaz brothers to someone else in the company who didn’t mind the headache, but now that person is even getting exhausted by the situation.

“He wanted a fight, we made a fight, we announced the fight, immediately he starts saying he’s not fighting,” White said. “We had a guy here in the company that was a big Nate Diaz fan, a big Nick Diaz fan and wanted to work with them. He’s not as enthusiastic as he used to be.”

Diaz has proven to be a tough negotiator with the UFC and a large part of that is his willingness to sit out until he feels he is treated fairly and gets his true value. Diaz has not fought since losing his rematch to Conor McGregor in 2016, and his return against Poirier was seen as a major coup to get one of the company’s biggest stars back into the cage. Instead, Diaz immediately said he would no longer fight on the card when at a press conference where he and Poirier were the stars, the UFC chose to reveal the announcement of McGregor’s return against Khabib Nurmagomedov. But while the mercurial tendencies of Diaz make him a folk hero among MMA fans, at this point, White essentially has written the Stockton product off as someone he should invest time in.

“I’m not interested in making a Nate Diaz fight until Diaz is just dying to fight,” said White. “We’ll offer him fights, we always offer him fights. We probably offered this kid 50 fights since he fought Conor. When he’s ready to fight, he’ll let us know.”

With Conor McGregor’s one-sided loss to Nurmagomedov leaving the Irish superstar in need of a suitable opponent, that could be pretty soon. After all, Conor has said he wants to rematch Nate and would like to do it for the inaugural 165-pound title, and Nate seems more than happy to oblige.

---

MUST-READ STORIES

STFU. Khabib Nurmagomedov’s manager responds to Conor McGregor: ‘Just STFU and move on’.

Mayhem. Jason Miller arrested for felony vandalism, in danger of facing jail sentence.

Jacare. ‘Jacare’ Souza explains why he sees UFC 230 fight with Chris Weidman as a rematch.

Doubt. Volkan Oezdemir questions Jon Jones return, doubts Daniel Cormier will fight at 205 again.

---

VIDEO STEW

New UFC 230 Promo.

TTTHS.

5 Things you might not know about UFC Moncton.

Chael on Conor’s self-analysis.

---

LISTEN UP

Eurobash. Interviews with Volkan Oezdemir, Nathaniel Wood, and Brendan Loughnane.

Fights Gone By. Discussing ONE Championship and Eddie’s alleged 8 figure deal.

---

SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE

So mad.

Interesting.

The real reason Eddie is leaving.

Sad but true.

Khabib and his grandfather.

Ian McCall trying to unretire to fight a heavyweight.

Cringe.

The good thing about having generic posters is they’re easy to adjust when fighters fall out.

Rizin poster.

This sin’t strictly fight related but Kyle Snyder got pinned by Sadulaev in their rematch for the world championship. Huge, huge thing in wrestling.

---

FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Ricardo Lamas (18-7) vs. Darren Elkins (24-6); UFC Argentina, Nov. 17.

---

TODAY IN MMA HISTORY

2009: Lyoto Machida retained his UFC light heavyweight title with a contentious unanimous decision over Mauricio Rua at UFC 104.

2014: Emanuel Newton submitted Linton Vassel with a rear-naked choke in the fifth round to retain his Bellator light heavyweight championship at Bellator 130.

---

FINAL THOUGHTS

Thanks for reading and see y’all tomorrow.

---

EXIT POLL

---

If you find something you’d like to see in the Morning Report, hit up @JedKMeshew on Twitter and let him know about it! Also follow MMAFighting on Instagram, and like us on Facebook!