If you want to stay updated with the biggest happenings in the world of MMA, you have come to the right place.

Starting with the biggest stories from the last 24 hours, we will first turn our attention to former UFC fighter Nate Diaz, who gave an interesting insight into his relationship with former rival, Conor McGregor, having battled him twice. Then Diaz takes the cake again as backed Dana White, addressing the pay disparity criticisms thrown at the CEO’s way. 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 at UFC 305.

Nate Diaz spills the beans on his relationship with Conor McGregor

“I’m not suprised motherf******”—a line forever immortalized by Nate Diaz after he defeated Conor McGregor in March, 2016. But apart from the unending rivalry, there’s probably a lot he has got to thank his rival for. And, if you ask Diaz, he’s not one to shy away from accepting that!

Ahead of his squared-circle clash against his former UFC BMF opponent, Jorge Masvidal on July 6, he recently appeared on the ‘All the Smoke’ podcast. At one point, the hosts Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson, questioned if his rivalry with Conor McGregor helped him get elevated as a MMA fighter and a UFC star. Diaz seemed to agree with the notion as he confirmed, “A hundred percent.” But just as you would expect, Diaz also ended the conversation in his familiar no sugar-coated fashion while throwing a dig toward the Irishman.

The boxer 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 still doesn’t seem to care too much about ‘The Notorious’, and 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. As we wait for McGregor’s response, let’s take a look at why the Diaz extended his support to Dana White.

No pay disparity in UFC?

The issue of fighter pay in the UFC has long been a concerning one. While NBA, NFL and NHL athletes enjoy around 48-50% pay of their league annual revenue, UFC has been known to pay far lesser. As per a study done in 2013, Major League Soccer stars were making a staggering 76% of their organization’s revenue, while UFC was handing out a meagre 18.6%. 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.

He defended the CEO, saying, “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.” “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,” he further stated on the podcast. 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. But if we look back at history, fighters have never agreed to this notion!

In 2014, a group of former UFC fighters, including Nate Quarry, Jon Fitch and Cung Le, along with 1,200 more (who worked for UFC between December 2010 and June 2017) filed a Class Action lawsuit against against UFC and its parent company Zuffa, LLC. The lawsuit alleged that the organization “used improper strategies to dominate the market for MMA fighter services, allowing it to pay its MMA fighters less than half as much as they otherwise would have received”. Slated to pay over $16 billion in damages if the suit had gone to trial, UFC decided to reach agreement, this year, to pay $335 million in installments.

But even then Dana White doesn’t seem to agree on giving fighters more. Back in 2022, during an interview with GQ Magazine, he had said, “It’s never gonna happen while I’m here. Believe me, these guys get paid what they’re supposed to get paid. They eat what they kill. They get a percentage of the pay-per-view buys and the money is spread out amongst all the fighters. If you don’t like it, there’s a simple solution to this problem: Go start your own MMA organization. No barrier to entry. Knock yourself out. Pay ’em whatever you want to pay ’em. It’s been done before. How’s it worked out for other guys? Not well. Mind your business.” Well, it seems the UFC is pretty set in its ways!

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

Israel Adesanya wants more!

It’s been a long time since New Zealand’s Dan Hooker has thrown some punches! After breaking his arm during his split decision victory over Jalin Turner at UFC 290, in July 2023, the 34-year-old has been itching for a fight. However, as most fighters seemed to be booked, things have been difficult, to say the least.

Not too long ago, in an interview, he had revealed his wish to fight at the UFC 305., saying, ”We’ll be in Perth, with the boys. I think, yeah, from looking around the gym. Obviously, there’s talks that Israel [Adesanya] – it will be myself, Israel and Kai [Kara-France] coming up at UFC Perth so yeah, I’ve got my eyes on Perth.”

His teammates, Kai Kara-France and Israel Adesanya, have already filled in the co-main and main event spot scheduled to be held on August 17 at the RAC Arena in Perth, Australia. However, Hooker is still nowhere to be found on the card. But guess what? Adesanya stuck his neck out for ‘The Hangman’, demanding that he get 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? Drop your views in the comments below.