Overview

• Diaz made the admission during an August 20 livestream with creator Sneako, revisiting a proposed bout from roughly 2013–14.
• He said he declined because he wanted a top-five opponent after challenging for the lightweight title, not a relative newcomer.
• Dana White had tweeted in January 2014 that Diaz turned the fight down, a claim Diaz publicly denied at the time.
• Reporting indicates the UFC attempted to book Diaz vs. Nurmagomedov around UFC 170 in February 2014 after Diaz’s win over Gray Maynard.
• The matchup never happened as Nurmagomedov was early in his UFC tenure, and both fighters later took separate high-profile paths.