UFC Rumors: Conor McGregor Rival Being Eluded By Top Contenders

Despite eyeing an epic comeback, Nate Diaz might be far from making his UFC return.

Shortly after Dustin Poirier’s TKO win over Conor McGregor at UFC 257, Diaz expressed his desire to step inside the Octagon once again.

As expected, the California native is looking forward to facing a top contender in his return, but apparently, there’s no mutual interest coming from any of UFC’s elite welterweights and lightweights at the moment, MMA news outlet Middle Easy reported, citing unnamed sources.

International Business Times could not independently verify this information.

According to the report, “there aren’t many matchups available for Diaz” at this point as many of the promotion’s lightweights are aiming for the title.

Most of the competitors in the welterweight bracket are not interested in catchweight matchups against the 35-year-old, especially because the former WEC star only wants to face UFC’s top contenders.

The report adds that Jorge Masvidal is the fighter being considered as a suitable opponent for Diaz’s potential return.

However, “Gamebred” and his team is more focused on a rematch against UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman.

In his latest interview with ESPN MMA, Diaz was confident the UFC will be interested in slating him for another blockbuster fight against a big name such as Poirier.

“I believe they [UFC] should be [interested],” Diaz stressed. “What else is he [Poirier] gonna do? “He just won the fight [with McGregor] and that’s the fight. I’m ready for a fight, and people are ready for the big fight. Now is the time.”

Diaz also sent the UFC a message in case the renowned MMA promotion doesn’t give him the fights he wants.

“They [the UFC] always talk about my record and how I have 11 losses,” “The Stockton Slugger” exclaimed. “I’ve tried to rematch all of those losses. Never would they even consider it. ‘Don’t even ask, you lost.’ And 95 percent of them were all decision losses that were hardly lost. Most of them I won so why would it be so out of the question for me to have a rematch with somebody now?”

“But this guy gets finished by me, he gets finished by Khabib [Nurmagomedov],” he added. “They built up this whole Dustin Poirier fight to get the rematch with Khabib and then he lost to him and now they’re talking about a rematch. This guy is just gonna get gifted rematches? That’s crazy to me.”

Aside from Poirier, Diaz is also open to the idea of facing Charles Oliveira, who recently beat Tony Ferguson at UFC 256.