MMA News Roundup: Nate Diaz Makes Surprising Confession on Conor McGregor, Dana White’s Former Fighter Defends Pay Issue, Israel Adesanya’s Demand for Dricus Du Plessis UFC 305 Card

Have you been trying hard to stay updated with the biggest happenings in the world of MMA? Well, you won’t need to worry about that because we have another daily roundup edition just for you. So, to start with the biggest stories from the last 24 hours, we will start with former UFC fighter Nate Diaz. The Stockton native gave an interesting insight into his relationship with former rival, Conor McGregor, having battled him twice.

Then we will keep our attention on Nate Diaz intact, as the former UFC star stuck out for Dana White and addressed the criticisms thrown at the CEO’s way for issues related to fighter pay. Finally, we will sum up this daily news compilation with Israel Adesanya, who made one particular demand ahead of his title fight against Dricus du Plessis.

Nate Diaz spills the beans on his relationship with Conor McGregor

The Stockton native opened up his post-UFC career with a highly talked-about boxing match against YouTuber-turned-boxer, Jake Paul. Now, he’s gearing up for another squared-circle clash against his former UFC BMF opponent, Jorge Masvidal. But ahead of that fight, Nate Diaz appeared on the ‘All the Smoke’ podcast, where the hosts Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson, would ask if his rivalry with Conor McGregor, which was ironic, to say the least, helped him get elevated as a MMA fighter and a UFC star, Diaz would say, “A hundred percent.”

Nate Diaz even mentioned that the bad blood with Conor McGregor has leveled down compared to the time when they were blood-thirsty rivals inside the Octagon. But guess what? The 39-year-old doesn’t seem to care too much about ‘The Notorious’. Diaz added, “I think he’s cool, but f*** him.” Will McGregor reply? He’s been looking for the trilogy fight after all, and these comments could garner his attention since he’s active on social media a lot more than some of the other combat sports athletes. Now, let’s move over to another piece of interesting news.

Former UFC fighter defends Dana White

The issue of fighter pay in the UFC has long been a concerning one. Why? Because of the low payouts that some of the fighters get in comparison to the ones who draw big money. However, Nate Diaz doesn’t think that’s an issue because, many, don’t seem to understand the concept of how much MMA fighters should get paid. In comparison to other promotions, Diaz claims that Dana White tends to pay a lot more to his fighters than the rival organizations, although not more than how much boxers make.

“I think Dana White gets a f***ing bad rap. I’m not giving him a good one, but bro, he’s paying a lot more people a lot more money than f***ing people think,” Nate Diaz stated on the ‘All the Smoke’ podcast. “boxing pays the highest-paid fighters a lot more than the UFC has. But the UFC, I think pays a lot more people a lot of money.” Diaz also shed light on the fact that for UFC to pay its fighters more money, they need to work on themselves and increase their market value.

Now in our final piece of news, we have a demand made by former 2-time 185-pound kingpin, Israel Adesanya.

Israel Adesanya demands the addition of a teammate on the UFC 305 card

Not too long ago, in an interview, Dan Hooker would reveal that he’s itching to fight in Australia, his native country’s neighboring country, at UFC 305. His teammates Kai Kara-France and Israel Adesanya have already filled in the co-main and main event spot, but he was nowhere to be found on the card. But guess what? Adesanya stuck his neck out for ‘The Hangman’, demanding that he gets added to the event.

“Dan Hooker needs to fight on this card. It’s atrocious that he is not even here right now. I have been trying to get him to come here, but he was in Sydney last week. He needs to fight on this card. He will fight anybody,” said Israel Adesanya during the UFC 305 on-sale press conference. Will Dana White oblige to ‘Izzy’s demands? We will have to wait for that confirmation with over a month’s time remaining for the PPV.