Last week, reports surfaced suggesting that Nate Diaz was in talks with the UFC about a potential return to the cage at UFC 227 this August 4 in Los Angeles.

These reports generated widespread excitement inside the MMA bubble. Unfortunately, UFC President Dana White has now poked holes in them, assuring that the UFC offers Diaz a fight every few months, and that there’s nothing in motion with respect to his fighting at UFC 227.

“We offer him a fight every 3 or 4 months and have ever since his last fight,” White told Yahoo’s Kevin Iole. “Nothing is going on.”

If Diaz does in fact return to the cage at UFC 227, there is no shortage of options with respect to his potential opponent. Many fans have expressed interest in seeing Diaz fight Justin Gaethje, Eddie Alvarez, and Kevin Lee, who recently called the Stockton-born star out on Twitter.

“[Dana White, Sean Shelby] if y’all really want [Nate Diaz] to fight you know who to come to,” Lee said in a Wednesday Tweet.”

Diaz has not fought since August of 2016, when he gave up a close decision loss to Conor McGregor in a massive welterweight showdown. In his next most recent bout, Diaz shocked the world by submitting McGregor in the second round of a wild welterweight firefight. This win over McGregor was preceded by decision win over Michael Johnson. Diaz is 19-11 overall.

UFC 227 is expected to be headlined by a bantamweight title rematch between champion TJ Dillashaw, and the man he won the title from, former champion Cody Garbrandt. No other bouts have been made official for the card at this time, though that is likely to change in the coming weeks

Do you believe Dana White on this one? Join the conversation in the comments section!

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 5/3/2018.