Interesting Tidbit of the Day: The UFC Tried Unsuccessfully to Persuade Nick Diaz to Go On Blind Date When He Was on the Payroll
(Video courtesy of YouTube/NCAASteve)
Urijah Faber was on Steve Cofield’s ESPN radio show last week and he revealed an interesting nugget that shed some light on the tumultuous relationship between Strikeforce welterweight champ Nick Diaz and UFC president Dana White.
According to the former WEC featherweight champ, the UFC tried valiantly years ago to convince Diaz to join fellow UFC fighters Tiki Ghosn, Pete Spratt and Tim Sylvia as contestants on Blind Date, but the Stockton native had no interest in making an appearance on the dating reality show.
“Hopefully Dana will step up [and offer him enough money to stay with Zuffa]. They’ve had kind of a weird relationship over the years because Dana’s a business man and Nick Diaz is good for business when he fights, but he’s known for skipping out on some of the PR stuff. Being a difficult guy to deal with when it comes to promoting things sometimes…I remember Diaz telling me years ago how they punished him for not going on that dating show they were having a couple of fighters go on,” Faber explained. “They would go on this dating show and Nick had a girlfriend at the time and , they wanted him on there for publicity and he wouldn’t do it so they put him and I think maybe Karo on the undercard. Somebody was on the undercard with Nick Diaz…I can’t remember who he was fighting, but… He’s got a chip on his shoulder when it comes to those guys sometimes. They’re trying to help him and he’s trying to help himself, so… I wish the best for Nick, I think they’ll make it work out.”
So THAT’S what Dana is talking about when he says Nick needs to play the game if he wants back in the UFC.
Though I respect Nick for standing up for himself and refusing to do the show, I can’t help but wonder how awesome the episode might have been with Nick not making eye contact with his date and mumbling incoherently about how lousy his date was treating him.
His appearance may have made Sylvia’s seem way less awkward by comparison.
(Video courtesy of YouTube/ArmandthaUnderdog)