Dana White has offered Nick Diaz a fight with Demian Maia, is waiting to hear back

Stockton, California’s Nick Diaz is one of the most popular and exciting fighters on the UFC roster. Unfortunately, it’s been years since we last saw the fan favorite in action.

Luckily for Nick Diaz fans, UFC President Dana White is apparently making some real efforts to get him back in the cage. Though Diaz apparently turned down a fight with former champion Robbie Lawler, White has more recently attempted to coax him back to the Octagon by offering him a fight with the streaking Demian Maia.

“I offered Nick Diaz the Lawler fight and he turned it down. Lawler accepted the fight and Nick turned it down so I’m looking for something else for Lawler right now,” White said on the latest episode of the UFC Unfiltered podcast (via Fox Sports).

“[Diaz’s team] were terrorizing me saying ‘we want a fight,’ so they wanted to announce it that night at the Sacramento card [in December]. Cause he was there, it’s the right crowd, it’s close to his hometown and they wanted to announce it. I got Robbie Lawler to accept the fight, I called him, and they turned it down and they’ve been radio silent on me ever since.”

“I just reached out to [Diaz’s team] and said what do you guys think about a fight with Demian Maia? I haven’t heard back from them yet.” 

White then went on to explain that if Diaz isn’t interested in a fight with Maia, he’ll offer the Maia fight to Jorge Masvidal, who scored a career-changing knockout win over Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone last weekend. Given that Masvidal recently expressed interest in a bout with Maia, this is likely to go over well with him.

“If Nick doesn’t take it, I’ll give it to [Jorge] Masvidal,” he said. 

Would you be interested in a Nick Diaz vs. Demian Maia fight? If so, who do you think wins? Sound off, PENN Nation!

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 2/1/2017.