“Ronda Rousey came to my house and she was like, ‘motherf-cker, you need to loosen up,’” Diaz previously told Sports Joe. “She put a bottle of tequila in front of me, boom, slid it over on the table and was like, ‘hey, time for you to have a shot.’ I was like, ‘uhhh, alright. I’ll get drunk with you.’”
Our current generation of mixed martial arts (MMA) fans may be unfamiliar with the rise and fall of combat sports icon Nick Diaz, who was one of the biggest (and most exciting) names in the industry — both inside and outside of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).
The original Stockton slugger racked up high-profile wins for promotions like EliteXC, PRIDE FC, and Strikeforce, among others, which includes his technical knockout victory over UFC legend Frank Shamrock, a fight that avenged the loss of his longtime coach, Cesar Gracie.
That’s probably why it’s so painful for Gracie to watch Diaz struggle at age 41.
“He was the best I’ve ever seen,” Gracie told Legacy TV. “But like I said, once he started to hang out with … I think Ronda Rousey got him drinking. You know what I mean? She would come up before she was famous, she’d hang out and everything. But she could drink, it wasn’t her fault, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t drink. He can’t do things like that. And that set him on a different path. All of a sudden his friends were Hollywood friends. His friends were Las Vegas friends, they were kinda weird. He went on a path … but I can’t go on that path. That’s not my path, I won’t follow him onto that path. All I can do is stay on the outside and wait for him to come to my path — but I won’t follow his path.”
Like his older brother, Nate Diaz carved out a memorable career in UFC and scored multiple mega-money paydays, despite getting “conned” by UFC CEO Dana White. That said, Nate has emerged as the more grounded and stable Diaz brother, built on a solid foundation of friends and family.
“I got love for the guy — I love him,” Gracie continued. “At 16 I trained him, I was like a father to him, if you wanna say that, an older brother, father, whatever. But I have to wait for him to want to be on this other path. He’s gotta do what makes him happy. If he wants to do another fight, go ahead. If he doesn’t, don’t. I don’t think he really does. He understands what he has to give, to do, to represent himself. I think he’s an amazing teacher, I would like him to maybe share and get a love for teaching, and maybe have his own academy and teach. Another thing too, I think it’s important … what Nate did is he got married to someone who kinda keeps him grounded, has a good mentality, and Nick never had that.”
Maybe that’s a good thing, considering what happened in late 2017.
Diaz (26-10, 2 NC) was supposed to make his return on the UFC 310 pay-per-view (PPV) card this weekend in Las Vegas, but dropped out prior to the event for reasons not explained. Taking his place is streaking welterweight sensation Themba Gorimbo.
For the rest of the UFC 310 fight card and PPV lineup click here.