Longtime UFC welterweight contender Nick Diaz teased a possible return to combat sports after crashing the UFC 261 pay-per-view (PPV) event last month in Jacksonville, Fla., even setting aside some time to chat with promotion president Dana White.
Consider that bad news for the “gossiping hoes.”
While Diaz appears to be physically ready for another run inside the cage, White is still not convinced the former Strikeforce champ is mentally committed to the rigors of full-time competition, which to date remains a step above working at Walmart.
“It went good,” White told ESPN about his sit-down with Diaz. “My whole thing with Nick Diaz is I just question how bad he really wants to fight. We got together, we had great conversation, talked about a possible comeback for him. I just don’t know. We’ll see how it plays out this summer and the rest of this year… I think that they’ll come back and say, ‘We want to fight this guy. So we’ll see who they say they want and we’ll go from there.”
In order for Diaz, 37, to convince White and Co. he’s serious about a UFC comeback, he’ll first need to complete six-months of USADA drug testing, then get over the negotiating hump that nearly sent him to Bellator MMA during his last round of conversations.
“I sit down daily or talk to daily [with] hungry, young savages that want to break into the Top 10, become world champions, all that stuff,” White continued. “Nick Diaz has done it all, seen it all, he’s been in big fights, I just don’t see that in him when I talk to him. Fighting is a young man’s game and I’m looking for the youngest, most talented, up-and-coming fighters that want to be world champion someday, who want to be the best.”
It should be noted that UFC light heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz is older than Diaz and appears to be competing in his athletic prime, so there’s still hope the Stockton slugger — who hasn’t seen action since his Anderson Silva laugher at UFC 183 — can make one last run inside the Octagon.