Nick Diaz has sent out a post revealing why he isn’t taking fights with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).
Diaz hasn’t been seen in action since Jan. 2015. He initially dropped a unanimous decision to Anderson Silva, but the result was changed to a No Contest when Silva popped for banned substances. Diaz ended up getting into his own issues with the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) for marijuana. Following an initial ruling of a five-year suspension, which was deemed ludicrous by many, the NSAC greatly reduced the sanction. Diaz found himself in brief trouble with the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) for whereabouts failures, but he cleared that up as well and has been eligible to fight since April 2018.
Nick Diaz Sounds Off On Not Taking UFC Fights
Diaz’s longtime training partner and friend Gilbert Melendez recently said he believes Diaz is retired. The Stockton native took to his Instagram account to talk about his UFC status:
“I’m no role model, I’m 35 years old, but I definitely wouldn’t advise anybody to take a fight for less than their worth or fight for free. Which is practically what I would be doing at this point in taking a fight with some of these guys that are not on my level. Nor would I be within my moral ethics to even do that aside from you not painting me as a role model. If there was an offer I couldn’t refuse, things would be different. Until they are – I’d like to continue to think I’ve been fighting to make the world a better place, but until I can continue to do that: ‘I don’t want to hurt nobody, I just want to party.'”
Diaz was originally scheduled to meet Jorge Masvidal on March 2 at UFC 235. While UFC president Dana White thought the bout was a lock, it turns out that wasn’t the case. Diaz claimed he never agreed to the match-up.
