Nick Diaz Makes His UFC Return – Is He The Same Fighter?
Nick Diaz has made his long-awaited return to the UFC.
He will appear on the Cory Sandhagen vs. Umar Nurmagomedov card at UFC Abu Dhabi. The card has been set for August 3 from the Etihad Arena. Diaz will take on Vicente Luque in a welterweight clash lasting five rounds. Diaz’s last UFC fight was a loss against Robbie Lawler in 2021 at UFC 266. Luque suffered a stoppage loss to Joaquin Buckley in his previous bout.
That took his UFC record to three losses out of his last four UFC bouts. The other two losses were against Geoff Neal and Belal Muhammad. Before his return, Diaz was linked with many big names, including Michael Page, Kevin Holland, Georges St-Pierre, and Colby Covington. Since those fights did not happen, Diaz chose Luque.
Diaz’s Return
“This has been in the works for quite some time, I’ve been told. Nick has been pushing for a GSP fight, didn’t come to fruition. He was then pushing for a Colby Covington fight at UFC 300, didn’t come to fruition. He then after ‘MVP’s debut and win at 299, pushed for that fight on the June 29th Conor McGregor card, UFC 303. Didn’t come to fruition.
“He then pushed for Kevin Holland on the June 29th card, and thought that was going to be the one. But as you know, it didn’t come to fruition… They said ‘What about Vicente Luque in Abu Dhabi?’, initially he didn’t want to go overseas. [But], I’m told the people in Abu Dhabi want Nick Diaz,” Ariel Helwani said
In the main event, the interim bantamweight champion Sandhagen takes on the undefeated Nurmagomedov. Sandhagen is on a three-fight win streak. His last defeat was in 2021 at UFC 267. He enters in the bout with a win against Rob Font. Nurmagomedov, meanwhile, has secured a win over Bekzat Almakhan in March.
The other match-ups include Tony Ferguson vs. Michael Chiesa. Deiveson Figueiredo also fights Marlon Vera. Meanwhile, Mackenzie Dern will battle it out against Loopy Godinez. While Sandhagen vs. Nurmagomedov is the main event, the key question remains whether he can return to his best. Following the Lawler loss, Diaz questioned himself.
Diaz’s Mindset
“I went into training camp, and I kind of got backed into it, too. I was in between management, it wasn’t like when I went and found a group to work with and organise my situation. I went back and forth between the people I was working with and some of the old people I was working with during this training camp and my trainers.
“I couldn’t amount to a level of athleticism I needed to be competitive, and I knew that going into the fight. Then I was going into this fight like, ‘Oh, man. I really got it coming.’ So, I didn’t really go in there to win. I just needed to get that first fight out, I hadn’t fought in a long time. I’d never fought under those conditions,” Diaz stated
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