The former Strikeforce champion talked up his chances of beating Canelo Alvarez in a boxing ring.
Nick Diaz hasn’t fought professionally in MMA since January 31st, 2015.
On that night — at UFC 183 — Diaz fought to an eventual No Contest with former UFC middleweight champ Anderson Silva. Despite not having fought in over three years or being linked to any kind of UFC return, Diaz recently claimed he could draw big numbers alongside one of the most popular fighters on the planet.
When speaking to TMZ Sports the former UFC welterweight title challenger was asked about Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez’s recent $365 million deal with DAZN. Though Diaz said he hadn’t previously considered boxing against Alvarez, he thought a fight between them would maximize DAZN’s massive investment in the Mexican star (h/t MMA Mania),
“[Alvarez] is coming up to 168 and he’s fighting some no names. At the end of the day you’ll make more money fighting me,” said Diaz.
“If y’all gonna make all that money; these guys are making billions of dollars now, millions of dollars now — I’m a better fighter. I’m a bigger draw,” continued the former Strikeforce champion.
Alvarez most recently fought in September versus Gennady Golovkin. According to Bad Left Hook, that fight scored 1.1 million pay-per-view buys. That fight was a rematch of a bout that Alvarez and Golovkin fought in September 2017, which did 1.3 million buys. Against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr in May 2017, Canelo again generated at least 1 million buys.
According to MMA Payout the largest pay-per-view buy rate for Diaz came in 2013, when he faced Georges St-Pierre for a title at UFC 158. That event sold an estimated 950,000 buys. Diaz vs. Silva in 2015 sold 650,000 pay-per-views. Diaz’s only other headlining pay-per-view slot came against Carlos Condit in 2012 (at UFC 143). That event had 400,000 pay-per-view buys.
Along with hyping up his selling power opposite Alvarez, Diaz claimed he’d also beat the multi-time and multi-weight world champion (should the fight happen close to 170 lbs).
“Let’s be real Canelo moving up to my weight, he ain’t gonna win that fight. No way, come on man. You’re just basically one of them little guys I spar on before I fight … I am a professional fighter. I’ve had over 37 fights.”
Despite his eagerness it seems unlikely that Diaz will land a fight with Alvarez, who is scheduled to face Rocky Fielding on December 15th for the WBA (regular) super middleweight title.