Nate Diaz is being sued by his former management for over $1 million, TMZ is reporting.
Diaz’s former agents, The Ballengee Group, have filed a lawsuit in Dallas, asking for more than a million dollars in damages after they claim Diaz “unexpectedly” fired them shortly before his UFC 202 rematch with Conor McGregor.
Ballengee claims they represented Diaz since 2014 and negotiated his fights with Rafael dos Anjos, Michael Johnson, and Diaz’s initial fight with Conor McGregor in March of last year. The suit claims that Diaz terminated the relationship after Diaz had signed on to fight McGregor a second time in August 2016 and that he never paid them their cut for the fight.
Diaz earned a disclosed salary of $2 million for the fight that did over 1.6 million pay-per-view buys meaning that Diaz likely earned several million more in bonuses.
Since TMZ’s original report, MMA Junkie obtained a copy of the filed suit and UFC fighter Leslie Smith and attorney Sam Awad are also named. The MMA Junkie report states that Awad began interfering in negotiations between Ballengee on behalf of their clients and UFC and that Awad advised both Diaz and Smith to dismiss Ballengee as their representation.
Diaz, Smith, and Awas have yet to respond publicly to the allegations.
Hiscoe’s Analysis: This is probably one of those things that will be settled before it goes to court. Either they negotiated the deal and Diaz owes them money, or they didn’t. One thing we know is that Dana White hates agents and the McGregor-Diaz rematch was a difficult one to put together so it wouldn’t surprise me to hear that White encouraged Diaz to push his management out of the picture to help get the fight made. If it does go to court, it could mean that Diaz’s contract for the fight would be made public, which would be very interesting to see how the pay-per-view bonuses work and when they kick in. Particularly so with Demetrious Johnson’s recent dispute with White and UFC.
THURSDAY NOTEBOOK ITEMS…
–Oscar De La Hoya told ESPN that he felt “it was disrespectful” of Dana White to book the Mayweather-McGregor fight so close to the Gennady Golovkin vs. Canelo Alvarez fight De La Hoya is promoting. “I would have thought that Dana White would have a little more respect with this boxing event taking place, because look, you just don’t do that. I mean, it’s like having the Super Bowl and then three weeks later the World Series takes place, the final game. It just doesn’t happen.”
-Conor McGregor and Demetrious Johnson have both been nominated for ESPY Awards for Fighter of the Year. McGregor won the award last year and he and Johnson are up against boxers Andre Ward, Gennady Golovkin and Terence Crawford for the award this year.
FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENT ROUND-UP
-Rob Font vs. Douglas Silva de Andrade has been added to UFC 213 on July 8 from Las Vegas.
-Amanda Lemos will replace an injured Lina Lansberg against Leslie Smith at UFC Fight Night Glasgow on July 16.
THROWBACK THURSDAY
Watch Michael Chandler and Eddie Alvarez’s classic ahead of Chandler’s title defense this weekend at Bellator NYC: HERE
NOW CHECK OUT YESTERDAY’S UPDATE: WEDNESDAY NEWS DIGEST 6/21: Matt Hughes update, Mayweather-McGregor media tour, George Sullivan-USADA (w/Hiscoe’s Analysis)
Leave a Reply