Nate Diaz believes the rousing success of UFC 196 earlier this month should officially put UFC President Dana White’s insistence he’s “not a needle-mover” to rest once and for all.

In July 2014, White blasted Diaz (19-10 MMA, 14-8 UFC), who at the time was disgruntled with his contract, on a skid in the octagon and on the outs with UFC management, for his lack of drawing power.

“He seems popular when you’re looking on (expletive) Twitter and some website,” White said nearly two years ago. “But the numbers, the real numbers, tell the truth. We know who moves needles and who doesn’t move needles. If Nate Diaz was a massive needle-mover, we’d have called him (to fight). He’d be on the phone, we’d be figuring it out and we’d work it out. He doesn’t move the needle.”

Fast-forward and Diaz is arguably among the highest tier of the sport’s biggest stars after he shocked UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor (19-3 MMA, 7-1 UFC) with a second-round submission victory at UFC 196 in Las Vegas earlier this month.

Although Diaz entered the contest as a replacement on just 11 days’ notice after McGregor’s original opponent, Rafael dos Anjos, pulled out of the event with a broken foot, the fight was still extremely well-promoted, and Diaz did his part.

From pre-fight press conferences that pulled record viewership numbers for the company to an overwhelming social media presence on fight night to the apparent 1.5 million buy rate on pay-per-view for the event, UFC 196 was a success in virtually every measurement.

There’s no denying McGregor played a massive role. “The Notorious” has evolved into a mainstream attraction over the course of his brief eight-fight UFC career. Diaz gives him credit for that. However, he also takes credit for himself, and said he was convinced it would happen all along if given the right opportunity.

“I knew that I brought the numbers,” Diaz told MMAjunkie. “When I fought on FOX it was like 3, 4, 5 million viewers every time I fight and headline these FOX shows. That’s where my argument was in the first place. I was like, ‘I see what’s going on here.’ So when I said they were trying to hold me back and trying to say that I wasn’t moving the needles or whatever, I already knew that. I knew the pay-per-view numbers were going to be huge.

“My point was proven. He brings a big following and he’s got good numbers, too, but that’s why I was saying after my fight with (Michael) Johnson, I was like, ‘You want to see a fight?’ No one pays attention. That’s why I had to demand that (expletive) and express it and come off the way I did, so I could try to get a fight. Now they can’t deny it, the whole needle-moving thing.”

Diaz was rewarded for his victory with a $500,000 disclosed salary, by far the largest of his 22-fight UFC career. All told, White said Diaz stands to make “a couple million dollars” from earning his most noteworthy win to date.

Now that Diaz has proven himself as a fighter capable of garnering tremendous interest under the right circumstances, he hopes to get the push from the UFC that he talked about so much in the lead-up and fallout of UFC 196.

Diaz urged the organization to get behind him in an even remotely similar way to how McGregor has been promoted, but he said he’s still not so sure that’s going to happen. He said McGregor has gotten more attention in the wake of UFC 196 despite the fact he lost, but the true determination of how he’s treated won’t come until the next fight.

“Who knows (if I’ll get the push)?” Diaz said. “They’re promoting him already more off this fight than they are with me. It just happened, so we’ll see what happens in the next fight.”

Whatever does come next for the 30-year-old, be it a title shot, top contenders fight, or even a rematch with McGregor, he said it’s not going to be insignificant. Diaz is aware of where he stands and said he’s not going to let anyone deny his place any longer.

“They know,” he said. “Everyone knows now.”

For complete coverage of UFC 196, check out the UFC Events section of the site.