Cris Cyborg, Nate Diaz & Ngannou confirm Dana White is not offering 3 fights a year

Ezra Samuel

UFC veteran Cris Cyborg joined Francis Ngannou and Nate Diaz in refuting Dana White’s latest round of claims.

The three professional athletes accused the promotion and the president Dana White of not offering them three fights a year despite saying the promotion is obligated to do so or else pay them to sit on the bench.

Cris Cyborg currently competes in rival promotion Bellator MMA. The former UFC featherweight champion had a feud with Dana White that led her to her release from the promotion in July 2019.

It all started on Twitter when Diaz was still complaining about not being able to finish out his contract for almost a year. The Stockton native claimed there were 5 opponents who were willing to compete against him yet he was still not booked.

“Dana said Francis Ngannou was injured and couldn’t fight right now. I don’t know why he was so confused in the interview. And in the last 9 months I been offered 0 fights and I asked for 5 legitimate opponents. Thank you for the kind words, can I go now?” Diaz wrote on Twitter.

UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou, who has some grudges with Dana White, retweeted and claimed that he was also not getting 3 fights a year for the past 2 years.

“The past 2 years before my injury I didn’t get my 6 fights though.” Ngannou wrote.

Cris Cyborg who is currently Bellator featherweight champion replied to Ngannou’s tweet. The Brazilian told Ngannou that she never had 3 fights a year in her 4 years competing under the UFC banner.

“I never got more than 2 fights a year in the ufc.” Cyborg wrote.

Cris Cyborg competed in the UFC from 2016 and 2019 and had 7 fights. Her only defeat was against Amanda Nunes in 2018 where she also lost her featherweight belt.

White led the press to believe that Diaz was in fact getting offers and was declining them. This is an account Ariel Helwani since denied.

“Here are the facts re: Nate Diaz: He hasn’t been formally offered a fight in 2022, sources say. After the Burns fight, as he said on Tuesday, he asked to fight Chimaev. He hasn’t been formally offered him or anyone else. UFC has until October for him to fight.”

Now some of the fans got confused because they believed that the UFC really is obligated to offer bouts to competitors every 6 months. A journalist who has inside info regarding UFC contracts, John Nash, clarified.

“No. They’re contracts say they have to offer say 4 fights over 24 month so that it averages 1 a month. But if fights turn down fights they can also extend the period by 6 months each time. They can even bank these extensions.”

Thanks to all the bad publicity the UFC has been getting courtesy of Dana White’s extravagant gift – Diaz is getting his wish and will be able to call himself a free agent following September 10th bout against Khamzat Chimaev.