UFC President, Dana White, is surprisingly optimistic about a Nick Diaz return in 2021.
UFC President, Dana White, is (oddly) liking the optics of a Nick Diaz fight in 2021. Indeed, White offered an update on Diaz’s long-awaited UFC return in a teaser from an upcoming interview with UFC Arabia’s Farah Hannoun.
Dana White says Nick Diaz’s return is looking promising
Full interview coming to @UFCarabia pic.twitter.com/tZuXK206ZJ
— Farah Hannoun (@Farah_Hannoun) June 7, 2021
“I didn’t think that it would happen, but it looks like it will. It looks like Nick Diaz will fight this year,” the UFC boss said (h/t theScore). “Looking promising.”
This is a much more promising update than White gave in May after meeting with the former UFC welterweight title challenger.
“My whole thing with Nick Diaz is I just question how bad he really wants to fight,” White declared just last month. “We got together, we had a great conversation, talked about a possible comeback for him. I just don’t know.”
Diaz, 37, has not competed professionally since a “No Contest” against Anderson Silva in Jan. 2015. The Stockton native (26-9) rides a three-fight winless streak against the aforementioned Silva, as well as title fight losses to Georges St-Pierre and Carlos Condit.
In fact, Diaz’s last win came in 2011, scoring a unanimous decision over B.J. Penn and, in the process, punctuating an 11-fight win streak that also included Paul Daley, K.J. Noons and Frank Shamrock, among others.
He was rumored to make his comeback fight against the COVID-plagued Khamzat Chimaev at some point in 2021.