(This story originally appeared on usatoday.com.)

LAS VEGAS – While the UFC was scrambling to rescue a cursed card, the man who might have saved it from mediocrity was right there in Sin City.

At a medical marijuana dispensary.

Nate Diaz does things his own way and doesn’t give a damn if they don’t like it – “they” being detractors, critics or, indeed, his employers. Which is how he ended up at Las Vegas’ Blum dispensary on Friday, mingling with an intriguing mix of stoners, medicinal cannabis users, UFC fans wanting a glimpse of a down-to-earth star and a handful of corporate types who have turned pot into pots of money.

Diaz is perhaps the biggest enigma in MMA, a much-loved anti-hero who has unwittingly rewritten the style guide for how to become insanely popular.

“People who treat it like it’s a business, wearing a suit, acting a certain way, like (Tyron) Woodley and (Stephen) Thompson, they’re so boring,” Diaz said. “You guys are acting in a certain way you think you should be acting to be professional, but the best example of a professional fighter is me and my brother (Nick).”

Woodley and Thompson said all the right things leading up to the UFC 209 main event at T-Mobile Arena on Saturday and, for the most part, are two of the easier top-level fighters for the UFC to deal when it comes to negotiations. But they delivered an absolute snoozer in their rematch for the welterweight belt, Woodley winning a majority decision so lacking in action that some fans headed for the exit without bothering to stick around to hear the judges’ scorecards.

That, combined with the late withdrawal of co-main event headliner Khabib Nurmagomedov because of weight-cutting issues, meant the pay-per-view event will go down as one of the organization’s more forgettable, and adds to a slow start to 2017. Suddenly, the UFC finds itself a little light on crossover star power that’s ready to fight, with Conor McGregor angling for a boxing match with Floyd Mayweather and Ronda Rousey having been possibly punched into retirement by Amanda Nunes.

In such a scenario, Diaz could be the answer to the company’s most pressing problem, if only there wasn’t such a difference of opinion between him and UFC President Dana White.

The UFC fan base adores Diaz because he says exactly what he thinks and, let’s be honest, because of his image as a pot-smoking, barroom brawler. The second part of that is a little misleading. The 31-year-old truly believes in the recuperative benefits of legal weed, and though he fights with fearlessness, he prepares with meticulous resilience, with a regimen that includes eating vegan and competing in triathlons.

However, after years of being paid less than he feels he deserved before he split a pair of hugely popular fights with McGregor, Diaz is happy to play hardball with White, settling for nothing less than big money and top billing.

He recently refused a bout with Eddie Alvarez — who was defeated by McGregor in November — because he felt the offer was merely a UFC ruse to paint him as the bad guy who was unwilling to compete. White said in December that the Diaz brothers are currently the most difficult to deal with on his roster.

Diaz said he thinks his blunt persona does not fit with the new corporate image of the UFC, which was bought by WME-IMG for $4.2 billion last year, and claims there is a wish within the organization to keep him out of the top circle of stardom.

A friend of Diaz’s got him a gig promoting the upcoming movie “Fist Fight,” for which he recorded a trailer where he sparred with actor Charlie Day and also included actor/artist Ice Cube. Diaz said the UFC urged the movie’s bosses to bump him from the role, and go with McGregor or Georges St-Pierre instead.

“The UFC is like, ‘We’re thinking GSP or Conor McGregor,’ ” Diaz said. “My guy said, ‘Don’t worry, we’re going to use Nate.’ They came back to say, ‘We really think you should use GSP or Conor.’

“I don’t know what it is. I’m not a white boy with blue eyes or great looking, I talk all (messed) up. I’m not the look they’re going for, but this is fighting. You don’t go for a look. You go for the baddest that’s out there. This is an example of my whole career.”

Had Diaz been involved in UFC 209 it would have been intriguing, both because he hasn’t fought since narrowly losing his McGregor rematch in the summer and also because 209 – the area code for his hometown of Stockton, Calif. – is part of his calling card.

“It (would have made) so much sense,” he added. “But I wasn’t sad. I feel like (UFC officials) were put off by it, like they were saying, ‘We don’t need you.’ Well, that’s a big ball drop for you guys. Look at your card.

“They try to shut us down. With Conor, they made a star out of him. They have never done that for me. I’m still here after all the holding back I’ve been through. They’ve never put my name on a pedestal. If they had my back the whole way, I’d be like, ‘UFC, all day, don’t be dissing my company like that,’ but why would I do that for a company that does this?”

And so he enters some kind of a stalemate. The UFC doesn’t like Diaz running his mouth, and White’s frustration at being unable to get Diaz onto the schedule has been obvious in recent media appearances.

Diaz wants to be one of the main guys and enjoy the compensation that comes with it, having come to the realization that his brand of brutal honesty doesn’t just make people want to root for him, but comes with a genuine financial value too.

Having grown up with little and now comfortably set with a good few million in the bank, he is in the driver’s seat, a spot that White might not appreciate and one that Diaz is unwilling to relinquish.

For more on UFC 209, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.