Analysis: Nate Diaz does himself disservice with drama

For a guy who doesn't move the needle, according to his boss, UFC lightweight Nate Diaz sure had a lot of people talking over the weekend.

Yet, for a guy who criticized his employers for hiring an "amateur" like former pro wrestler Phil "CM Punk" Brooks, Diaz showed little professionalism when he badly missed weight, then looked underprepared against Rafael dos Anjos at UFC Fight Night: Dos Santos vs. Miocic on Saturday night in Phoenix.

When Diaz took a self-imposed hiatus from the sport after his request to renegotiate his contract was denied, UFC President Dana White explained that Diaz didn't deserve a pay raise because "he's not a needle-mover." In other words, regardless of his skill – at the time, Diaz had just knocked out former title contender Gray Maynard – he needed to be more popular before he could justify demanding more money.

Diaz eventually accepted the fight with dos Anjos, but his antics leading up to the fight seemed to be calculated to prove White's assessment wrong. First he made headlines when he blasted the UFC's new sponsorship deal with Reebok on Twitter, then claimed, disingenuously, that his account had been hacked. Then he no-showed a fight-week media workout and shrugged it off, saying he'd overslept.

By the time the UFC broadcast went live on Fox, Diaz was a hot topic. The show opened with a clip of him walking out of a Fox interview earlier that week, with on-air analysts left scratching their heads at the broadcast desk. When you consider that Diaz wasn't even part of the night's main event, you have to admit that he did a decent job of making himself the center of attention.

It's as if Diaz decided he wasn't content with proving that he could simply move the needle, and instead decided to use it as his own personal battering ram.

But when it came time to perform in the cage, Diaz ran into trouble. He missed weight by nearly five pounds, which cost him 20% of his fight purse in fines, then was dominated by dos Anjos en route to a lopsided loss.

Diaz attributed the weight and performance issues to injuries suffered in training camp, suggesting that other fighters in his situation might have withdrawn from the bout. But, he added, "I had to come and get paid."

As White pointed out, however, missing weight and losing fights seem counterproductive to Diaz's stated financial goals.

"He wants to make more money, yet he keeps doing things that make him lose money, which doesn't make sense," White said. "I think Nate's in this position where he needs to go home, heal up, and decide what he wants to do," get serious or retire.

The UFC has reason to hope he opts for the former. Fight fans still care about him and that has real value to the UFC, which has struggled recently to get people interested in its many new faces.

But before Diaz gets too indignant about a pro wrestling "amateur" trading on popularity and name value, he might consider the extent to which he's been skating by on the same traits lately.

Unlike Brooks, Diaz earned his spot in the UFC. If he wants to stay there, however, it's going to take more than pre-fight drama.