Report: UFC pursued Khabib, McGregor, GSP, Diaz tournament
The UFC had a novel idea for getting Khabib Nurmagomedov, Conor McGregor, Georges St-Pierre, and Nate Diaz back into the cage: making them fight one another.
The promotion reportedly planned to create a four-fighter tournament in which Nurmagomedov and McGregor would have squared off this fall and GSP and Diaz would have fought Aug. 4 in Los Angeles, according to MMAFighting.com's Ariel Helwani. The winners would have met before the end of 2018.
The tournament didn't come together, though, largely because attempts to book St-Pierre versus Diaz went nowhere. UFC president Dana White confirmed he tried to book the lightweight bout, but GSP says he's not ready to fight again.
Related - Khabib's camp wants GSP next: We believe it's the 'fight to make'
The UFC has struggled to get the four fighters - arguably the biggest names in the sport - in the Octagon. Diaz hasn't fought since a rematch with McGregor in August 2016; McGregor last competed for the UFC in November 2016; St-Pierre's ulcerative colitis has prevented him from returning to the cage since defeating Michael Bisping in November after a layoff of nearly four years; and Nurmagomedov's UFC career has been dotted with various injury-related stops and starts.