Diaz chides brass for being left out of UFC 209: 'Look at your card'

On Saturday, Nate Diaz was merely a spectator at an event many hoped he would headline, but not through any fault of his own.

The Stockton scrapper took in the action of UFC 209 cageside in Las Vegas, and while he would have loved to grace the card that bore the area code of his beloved hometown, he claims the brass wasn't exactly salivating at the idea, although they may now be ruing their alleged reluctance. Not only did Khabib Nurmagomedov's weight-cutting issues scrap an interim lightweight title bout with Tony Ferguson that would have served as the co-main event, Tyron Woodley and Stephen Thompson staged a tepid and much-maligned headliner, which Woodley took by majority decision to retain the welterweight title.

"It (would have made) so much sense. But I wasn't sad," Diaz told USA Today's Martin Rogers. "I feel like (UFC officials) were put off by it, like they were saying, 'We don't need you.' Well, that's a big ball drop for you guys. Look at your card."

The 31-year-old last fought in a blockbuster rematch with Conor McGregor at UFC 202 - for which he pocketed a career-best $2 million - and has since boldly declared he wouldn't answer the promotion's calls for anything less than 10 times his last fight purse. While his pair of dates with McGregor set new pay-per-view records for the UFC, Diaz insists the company refuses to trust in his proven star power.

"They try to shut us down. With Conor, they made a star out of him. They have never done that for me. I'm still here after all the holding back I've been through. They've never put my name on a pedestal. If they had my back the whole way, I'd be like, 'UFC, all day, don't be dissing my company like that,' but why would I do that for a company that does this?"

- With h/t to MMAjunkie