MMA legend Nick Diaz is set to return to the Octagon on August 3 when he faces Vicente Luque in Abu Dhabi.
It has been three years since the Stockton original last competed in the UFC and that, in turn, was a comeback from a six-year hiatus.
Before his fight with Robbie Lawler at UFC 266, Diaz was reportedly offered several opponents before the decision was made to run back his first clash with Lawler.
Colby Covington revealed in a recent interview with Submission Radio that he was one of the names in contention for a fight with Diaz – which would have surely been chaotic to say the least.
Colby Covington Says Nick Diaz ‘Ducked’ The Fight But He Has Nothing Bad To Say About Him
During the interview, Covington spoke about how there were talks of him facing off with Diaz back in 2021, with Madison Square Garden as a potential destination.
The former three-time UFC welterweight title challenger said that he understands why the UFC hasn’t attempted to revisit this fight after Diaz turned this option down.
“Unfortunately, he hasn’t been offered to me in about three years. The last time Hunter had called me with Nick Diaz’s name across my desk was when they offered me to him in Madison Square Garden about three years ago so, he turned down the fight, he didn’t want the fight so I think the UFC just knows that they can’t match that up.
“I mean, that’s the biggest mismatch in UFC history to give me a guy like Nick Diaz so it wouldn’t be doing the company any justice to put some guy that’s over the hill and past his prime versus the guy that’s in his prime and the best welterweight on earth right now, Colby Covington.
Covington also said that despite this and some comments that the Diaz brothers have made over the years, he has no hard feelings towards them after this fight didn’t come together.
He said that he even shared a moment with the elder Diaz following one of his fights where the leader of the “Nick Diaz Army” was very complimentary of his skills and career.
Covington states that despite Diaz being “scared” to fight him, he has nothing negative to say about one of MMA’s most iconic siblings.
“He knew at that time that I was the best welterweight on earth. He came up to me one time when I fought, after UFC Sacramento, and he’s like, ‘Yeah you’re the future of this division’ and showed me a lot of respect so I’m not going to put down the Diaz brothers and talk s*** about them.
“They’ve said some things about me but they’ve done great things in this sport and I’m not going to sit down and say anything bad about them but he did dodge the fight. He was scared to fight me and that’s facts, that’s truth.”
