Dana White's latest comments put Nick Diaz's UFC future in doubt
Dana White’s latest comments have put MMA legend Nick Diaz’s UFC future in doubt.
Back in November 2019, Nick Diaz had spoken about returning to the sport of MMA. However, Diaz’s comeback is yet to come to fruition.
UFC president Dana White recently spoke to The Schmo and asserted that he believes Nick Diaz is unlikely to return to the sport of MMA.
“Everything that I see from Nick Diaz doesn’t look like Nick Diaz wants to or is ready to compete, you know, in this sport. This sport, even like Jon Jones – as good as Jon Jones is, you have to be a hundred percent mentally, physically, and emotionally ready to train, be ready for this, and fight.” Dana White stated.
“And I just don’t think…I don’t think anybody should want to see Nick Diaz fight. Nick Diaz has been in a lot of wars. He’s accomplished a lot of great things in his career. He’s made a lot of money. He’s obviously super-famous. He’s gotten everything you could hope to get out of fighting. I just don’t know why – when I see his Instagram, you know – why he would want to come back.” (*H/T Sportskeeda for the transcription)
Suggesting that Nick Diaz has no reason to return to MMA, Dana White pointed out that Diaz has been in several tough fights in his career and taken a lot of damage.
White also indicated that Diaz should not return to fighting if he is mentally, physically, and emotionally unprepared for it. Nevertheless, the Diaz brothers (Nick and Nate Diaz) recently shared a video of them training during the COVID-19 pandemic quarantine ahead of their rumored returns to MMA in 2021.
Nick Diaz’s manager recently teased his MMA comeback
Nick Diaz's faced Anderson Silva in a middleweight bout at UFC 183 in January 2015. The fight ended up being a unanimous decision victory for Silva. However, Silva tested positive for the banned PEDs drostanolone and androsterone, whereas Diaz tested positive for marijuana. The fight’s result was subsequently overturned to a No Contest (NC).
The aforementioned fight against Anderson Silva that took place in January 2015 is Nick Diaz’s last professional MMA fight till this date. Nick Diaz’s manager recently teased that there’s 'a 99.9 percent chance' that Diaz would return to the octagon in 2021.