UFC president Dana White has admitted that he came close to fighting Nate Diaz a few years ago.

It’s not exactly news to suggest that Dana White and Nate Diaz haven’t always seen eye to eye. Whether it was as a result of comments in the media or difficult negotiations, the two parties have a love-hate relationship - and things have almost escalated quite dramatically over the years.

We’ve seen the famous video of Diaz handing White a Stockton slap but in addition to that, Nate revealed during a recent interview with ESPN that a physical altercation almost happened when the pair were in a nightclub together.

“It was a long time ago, when Gilbert [Melendez] did The Ultimate Fighter [20]. Everybody had gotten off the show and then we went to the club when Dana and them were having a big afterparty, and then Dana’s all [intoxicated]. He’s all, ‘What’s up, motherf*****?’

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“I was like, what’s up? And he’s telling me about, ‘What do you want?’ I was like, ‘What the f*** do you think I want? More money and more f****** better fights than everyone here.’ It’s because I was never on the destination [path] for a title though, at the time.”

When asked about the matter at a media scrum this week, White couldn’t help but laugh.

“Allegedly,” White laughed. “Allegedly. We were drinking.”

“Does anybody else have any other questions? [laughs]”

From the Tito Ortiz drama to Diaz and beyond, you can’t say White is afraid of confrontation.

The Diaz swansong

This weekend at UFC 279, fans are expecting to see the final UFC appearance of Nate Diaz as he prepares to battle Khamzat Chimaev in the main event.

The pair will collide in Las Vegas and while it’s considered to be a fairly one-sided affair on paper, we all know how foolish it is to count someone like Diaz out - especially on a stage as big as this one.

Whatever happens, you can bet Dana will have some thoughts on it in his post-fight interview.