According to his manager, UFC lightweight Nate Diaz‘s tweet about attending his high school reunion is his way of saying he wants to fight Gray Maynard at UFC on FOX 9 – not The Ultimate Fighter 18 Finale.

Following this past Friday’s Bellator 101, Mike Kogan told MMAjunkie.com: “It just makes sense that he fights Gray Maynard, who’s ranked above him, on the same card where there’s a title fight, so he just expressed a desire to fight on the Sacramento card.”

This past week, Diaz (16-9 MMA, 11-7 UFC) was in the news for tweeting that he couldn’t make a scheduled meeting with two-time opponent Maynard (11-2-1 MMA, 9-2-1 UFC) because the reunion was on the same night as the Nov. 30 fight card, which takes place at Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.

Diaz later deleted the message. Kogan said the fighter isn’t turning down the bout and is training to face Maynard.

However, the younger brother of Nick Diaz wants to do it a little bit later.

Kogan pointed out that UFC on FOX 9, which takes place Dec. 14 at Sleep Train Arena in Sacramento, Calif., and airs live on FOX, is much closer to Diaz’s stomping grounds in Stockton and features Josh Thomson challenging Anthony Pettis for the UFC’s lightweight title – a shot he gets coming off a TKO win over Diaz in April in San Jose, Calif.

“It has nothing to do with the reunion or not reunion,” Kogan said. “He would like to see if he could fight on the Sacramento card. It’s only two weeks later. It’s closer to his house; it’s like fighting in your backyard with more fans. That’s really what it’s about.”

Diaz fought Thomson at UFC on FOX 7 and was stopped by a head kick and punches in the second round of the fight. It was his first loss via TKO.

Prior to that, Diaz fought now-former lightweight champion Benson Henderson for the title and lost a unanimous decision. The setback snapped a three-fight win streak.

Against Maynard, Diaz won an unofficial bout on The Ultimate Fighter 5 via submission and three years later lost a split decision.

(Pictured: Nate Diaz)