Nate Diaz's upset win over Conor McGregor at UFC 196 was a shock. Few gave the Stockton, California, native much of a chance against the Irishman, whose career momentum most closely resembled a particularly large boulder rolling down a steep hill.
Diaz's second-round submission finish of the featherweight champion came on the biggest possible stage. According to UFC President Dana White, UFC 196 was one of, if not the, biggest shows in UFC history. Millions of people tuned in to see Diaz choke the golden boy into submission and to experience his unique brand of charisma in the aftermath.
(Warning: The video below contains NSFW language.)
The bloody, back-and-forth victory over McGregor in front of an enormous audience cemented Diaz's status as a money-weight fighter.
What exactly is a money-weight? First and foremost, a money-weight fighter is a draw.
Contrary to Dana White's statement that Diaz "is not a needle-mover," something he said back in 2014 in the midst of a contentious contract renegotiation, there's every reason to think that fans tune in to watch the Stockton native. Nearly 2 million people (NSFW language) have watched McGregor and Diaz jaw at the pre-fight press conference. It's hard to imagine Rafael dos Anjos generating the same kind of interest.
Diaz's title fight with Benson Henderson on Fox in 2012 averaged 4.4 million viewers, one of the highest numbers in the series. He drew 1.129 million viewers when he fought Gray Maynard at The Ultimate Fighter 18 Finale. When given the opportunity to headline cards, Diaz has generally drawn well, and the potentially record-breaking bout with McGregor is just the most recent proof of this.
Diaz's 390,000 followers on Twitter and 495,000 on Instagram likewise speak to his popularity. Those aren't Conor McGregor numbers, but they're substantially more than Dos Anjos or welterweight champion Robbie Lawler.
Fans tune in to watch Nate Diaz. That much is indisputable, and it's hard to imagine the win over McGregor doing anything other than massively boosting his profile.
Second, wins and losses aren't as important to the money-weight fighter as the ability to generate interest. Credibility is essential—the prospective money-weight has to be competitive—but winning per se doesn't matter as much as energizing the fans and selling the fight.
Third, and most important, a money-weight fighter isn't tied to any given weight class, but to where the biggest money can be found.
Georges St-Pierre was certainly a draw, for example, but he fought exclusively at welterweight. Jose Aldo was a dominant featherweight but never drew an exceptional amount and has never fought outside featherweight in his UFC career. Jon Jones is a solid draw and has obviously dominated his fellow 205-pounders, but he has never ventured outside the division.
Anderson Silva and especially BJ Penn are better examples. Both drew excellent numbers, Penn more so than any other lighter-weight fighter in history, and both routinely fought outside their divisions. Silva beat James Irvin, Stephan Bonnar and former champion Forrest Griffin at 205 pounds but did so more for a lack of contenders at middleweight than in pursuit of the biggest names.
Penn is the prototype of the money-weight fighter. The Hawaiian fought both Matt Hughes and Georges St-Pierre twice at welterweight and even ventured as high as 191 pounds to scrap with Lyoto Machida. He chased the biggest possible fights regardless of weight, and that both made him a great deal of money and endeared him to fans.
Diaz has fought at welterweight four times, where he fell short against top-10 fighters Dong Hyun Kim and Rory MacDonald. His bout with McGregor took place at 170 pounds as well, and as he has aged it's possible that he could be more competitive there.
The Stockton native fulfills every one of these categories. He's a draw, his record has been competitive even in his losses and he's willing to fight whomever at whatever weight.
Since defeating McGregor, various parties have raised the possibility of big-time fights at welterweight. Dana White said on SportsCenter (h/t MMA Junkie) that it would make sense to book Diaz against Lawler for the belt, while Georges St-Pierre's coach, Firas Zahabi, called for that matchup on Twitter.
209 vs 514 @ 200 + (CM$ < gsp$)="">#RealMoneyFight #NinjaGaidenvsKarateKid https://t.co/yobMEOknD6
— Firas Zahabi (@Firas_Zahabi) March 10, 2016
"I'm at the top, so it's their [the UFC's] call what's next," said Diaz at the post-fight press conference. "My fights are always pulling big numbers, you know? They always stick me on Fox...I was bringing in more numbers than anybody, but nobody pays attention to that."
Diaz knows he's a draw. He knows his monetary value to the promotion.
"I'm not asking for anything. I'm demanding more than everybody," Diaz told ESPN.com's Brett Okamoto. "I want more than everybody, straight up. Money talks. I want the biggest fight. Whoever I've got to fight -- the biggest show, biggest payday -- that's what I want."
(Warning: The video below contains NSFW language.)
In becoming a money-weight fighter, Diaz has an excellent role model close to home in the form of his older brother. Nick Diaz long had appeal to MMA's counterculture, but he became a real draw through his two-year run in Strikeforce, when he defeated fighters like Frank Shamrock, Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos and Paul Daley. He capped that streak by pulverizing BJ Penn in his return to the UFC.
Diaz the Elder chased big-time bouts throughout his career. He fought Takanori Gomi at 160 pounds in PRIDE and submitted him with a gogoplata in an all-timer of a donnybrook, his win over Shamrock was at a 179-pound catchweight, the fight against St-Pierre was for the welterweight title and he fought Anderson Silva at middleweight in his last outing.
By defeating McGregor, Nate has entered the same territory his brother has occupied for the last four years. He can chase fights between 155 and 170 pounds based on name value, the excitement of the matchup itself and the potential to draw buys.
While Diaz is hardly disqualified from relevant bouts—a rematch with Rafael Dos Anjos for the lightweight title is a real possibility, as the champion told Ariel Helwani on the MMA Hour (h/t MMA Fighting)—he isn't locked into a single division. Anyone would be a fool to turn down a fight with Georges St-Pierre and the life-changing money that would come with it, and a title fight with Robbie Lawler would further enhance Diaz's profile.
Both of the Diaz brothers have reached the hallowed grounds of the money-weight fighter. So too, despite the loss, has Conor McGregor. Prior to his defeat at Diaz's hands, and even when he was set to face Dos Anjos, McGregor was open to discussing the possibility of a run at Robbie Lawler and the welterweight belt.
The loss to Diaz doesn't mean the Irishman is forever shut out of big-money fights. He'll probably go back to featherweight for at least one bout, but after that, there's no reason he couldn't fight Donald Cerrone, Anthony Pettis or Dos Anjos, or rematch with Diaz.
The time is ripe for the UFC to embrace the trend of the money-weight fighters.
It has a strong stable of fighters who can draw both on pay-per-view and television, and it should be finding creative ways to match them to draw fan interest. The Diaz-Silva matchup at UFC 183 last year was a step in the right direction, and the promotion was surely happy with the 650,000 buys it generated (per Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Newsletter, via MMA Payout.)
Matching Silva against Michael Bisping was another sharp move. It wasn't the most divisionally relevant fight, but it drew fan interest on both sides.
Now more than ever, we know that fans buy name value, and putting well-known pieces together into intriguing and sometimes unexpected combinations should be a goal for the promotion. Titles are all well and good, but the UFC often focuses on them to the exclusion of fun and profit.
A fun scrap between fighters we can invest in emotionally is every bit as good, and the UFC would be well served to embrace that trend. The money-weights are here, the big fights are on the table and so too are piles of money.
Patrick Wyman is the Senior MMA Analyst for Bleacher Report and the co-host of the Heavy Hands Podcast, your source for the finer points of face-punching. He can be found on Twitter and Facebook.
