Nick Diaz openly admits that he doesn’t want to fight Robbie Lawler at UFC 266.
The former Strikeforce champion skipped media day on Wednesday but did sit down with ESPN for a 20-minute interview ahead of his eagerly anticipated rematch with Lawler on Saturday night.
“I’m going in there to win,” Diaz said. “Do I feel confident? I never do. I never have. I always feel like I’m going to get trashed out there. Every fight I’ve ever done. ‘How do you feel against Robbie Lawler?’ I feel like I’m going to get the sh*t beat out of me. And even when I win, I get beat up worse.”
Diaz has no doubts about his ability and believes he could dethrone the welterweight champion, Kamaru Usman if given the chance. However, he says this upcoming fight with Lawler is one he would rather avoid.
“I think I’ll beat the sh*t out of Usman,” Diaz said. “I’ll have a better shot against Usman than I do Lawler, just because I already beat Lawler. This doesn’t make sense for me to go in and fight Robbie Lawler again. I don’t know why I’m doing this. … This should not happen. Whoever set this up is an idiot. I don’t know why I’m doing this. I don’t know why this happened. I should be fighting Kamaru Usman – and that’s it.”
The 38-year-old suggested other people have instigated his return to the Octagon.
“All the people around me and all the money and the sponsors, they won’t let me get away from fighting,” Diaz said. “There’s things I could do, but that’s not gonna work out. I might as well just go and take my punches. … I don’t want to look back and say, ‘Why did I not just do it?’ I don’t feel great. I feel great to fight. I don’t feel great about everything (else). If I don’t do this, I don’t know how I’m going to feel about myself.” (Transcribed by MMA Junkie)
Does this talk from Nick Diaz worry you ahead of UFC 266?