After Four Years Out of Action, Nick Diaz is Finally Set to Return to UFC Action and Step Back Inside the Cage Next March…
Now, this should be good. Nick Diaz is officially set to return to the UFC early next year, when he’ll take on Jorge Masvidal on March 2, at UFC 235, in Las Vegas (per Brett Okamoto). It marks the end of what will be a four-year hiatus for the elder Diaz brother, who last fought back in 2015 against Anderson Silva.
Diaz has had a complicated time since that fight. After initially losing to Silva, the fight was overturned to a no-contest. Silva tested positive for PEDs, while traces of marijuana were found in Diaz’s system. He was hit with a ridiculous four-year ban, which was reduced on appeal.
Then this year he had to deal with an unsavoury domestic abuse case, which was eventually dismissed and thrown out of court. The UFC didn’t want to deal with him while that was on-going, but now he’s finally set to come back to action. For real.
This is an excellent match-up because a win for either man will get them back to title contention. Masvidal has lost his last two fights – to Stephen Thompson and Damian Maia respectively. The chance to fight Diaz is a huge opportunity for him because arguably the elder Diaz is the biggest name in the division.
Masvidal signalled that he’s excited for this fight when he told Okamoto in an interview with ESPN:
“The UFC offered us Nick Diaz and obviously we said yes. I would have loved to fight Nate too, these guys are studs man. All will. They don’t have the most skills in the division, but they have maybe the most will. You can beat the s**t out of them – pain, fatigue – it doesn’t matter. And I’ve got a lot of those same qualities. My fanbase knows I’m going in there to die trying.”
Nick Diaz. Mandatory Credit: Kelvin Kuo, USA TODAY Sports.
Call Out
Ben Askren has already tweeted his desire to fight the winner of this contest – after he beats Robbie Lawlor – because he likes making ‘easy money’. The welterweight division has suddenly become stacked. Tyron Woodley, Nick Diaz, Ben Askren, Colby Covington, Kamaru Usman… those are some absolute studs.
It will be very interesting to see how fresh Diaz is after such a long time out of action. His previous two fights before the Silva one were losses to Georges St. Pierre and Carlos Condit. Before that, he was on an 11-fight win streak. At the age of 35, all of that means nothing now. He’s got it all to prove.
High Stakes
A win for either man will see them right back in the mix. Masvidal has one of the most punchable faces in the UFC (we’re Michael Bisping fans here) but he’s not fought for over a year. Since then he’s been on Exation, a Latin America TV show.
Now that Nick is officially coming back, it will be interesting to see what happens in the world of his younger brother Nate…
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