5 reasons why the UFC should book Nate Diaz vs. Tony Ferguson
Despite being one of the UFC’s most bankable stars, it looks like Nate Diaz is set to leave the promotion after his contract ends with one more fight. So, who should Diaz face in that bout?
One name that has been mooted as a potential opponent for Nate Diaz in his final UFC fight is Tony Ferguson, but should the promotion run with this clash?
🕶 Ferguson v Diaz 🔥
That would be a hell of a fight! https://t.co/356NhSSx2j
On paper, at least, a fight between Diaz and ‘El Cucuy’ definitely makes a lot of sense, but whether the UFC will see things that way is, of course, another thing entirely.
Regardless, here are five reasons why Diaz vs. Ferguson is the right fight to make.
#5. Nate Diaz vs. Tony Ferguson could draw a strong number for the UFC
One reason why the UFC might want to book a fight between Nate Diaz and Tony Ferguson is the potential it’d have to draw a good number on pay-per-view. The promotion does tend to headline its bigger events with title bouts these days, but a Diaz vs. Ferguson clash could definitely help boost the numbers of any show.
Of the two, Diaz is obviously the bigger draw. The Stockton-based fighter has been seen as one of the UFC’s most popular stars for over a decade now, but it was his two fights with Conor McGregor in 2016 that turned him into a truly major drawing card.
The UFC 196 McGregor vs Diaz presser peaked at over 360k viewers. Today's UFC 200 presser did around 33k viewers. https://t.co/5LWxqzww2A
Those two clashes headlined UFC 196 and UFC 202, and both events drew well over a million buys and remain amongst the most purchased UFC shows of all time.
Since then, Diaz has helped to boost the buyrates of UFC 241 and UFC 263. While buyrate information for UFC 244, which he headlined with Jorge Masvidal, remains unknown, the event did earn over $6m in ticket sales – the second-best number for a UFC show in New York state.
Ferguson, meanwhile, is not as proven a drawing card, but he has headlined a number of big shows over the years, including UFC 249, which reportedly drew around 700k buys on pay-per-view.
Basically, putting these two fighters together would almost certainly pique the interest of the fans, meaning a strong pay-per-view buyrate for the UFC.