Nick Diaz’s Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) career isn’t over yet.
It was recently announced that the elder Diaz brother, 40, will return to action for a Welterweight clash against No. 13-ranked contender, Vicente Luque, in UFC Abu Dhabi’s co-main event next month (Sat., Aug. 3, 2024). By the time Diaz competes, it will have been nearly three full years since his last fight.
Diaz ended a six-year hiatus when he rematched Robbie Lawler at UFC 266 in September 2021. Unfortunately for the former Strikeforce Welterweight champion, he remained winless since 2011 when Lawler scored a third round technical knockout over Stockton, California’s finest. According to Diaz’s longtime teammate and friend, Jake Shields, he was out of the gym for almost all of that mixed martial arts (MMA) absence.
“He didn’t train at all for his Lawler fight,” Shields said on JAXXON PODCAST. “That fight shouldn’t have happened in my opinion. I’m not gonna get into too many details but I wasn’t too happy. I think he was kind of pressured into that so people could make money.
“The fact that he fought Robbie Lawler with zero training in five years, I was freaked out watching that,” he continued. “I thought he was gonna get embarrassed and he put on a fricken war. He lost, but he went just two rounds — for a second, I thought he might come back and win — with no training. So, I think it shows he still has the heart, and now he’s training. I can’t say how hard, I know he’s training now.”
Although Shields knows Diaz is more prepared for this upcoming go-around, he admitted more time for the bout would have been ideal. Since Diaz last fought, Luque has gone 1-3 (22-10-1 overall).