UFC welterweight pioneer Nick Diaz is not calling it quits just yet.
Despite looking “incredible” in his comeback fight against Robbie Lawler as part of the UFC 266 fight card last fall in Las Vegas, promotion president Dana White wanted the job-hating Diaz to hang up the gloves and find a new line of work.
Hopefully the Stockton Walmart is still hiring.
But if and when Diaz does find his way back to the cage, the former Strikeforce welterweight champion doesn’t want to be wasting time with every Tom, Dick, and Harry on the 170-pound roster and prefers to score an immediate title shot opposite Kamaru Usman.
“Working on end of the year,” Diaz told TMZ Sports. “I’m just focused on my training right now. If I’m going to fight, I want to fight for the title. They want to say that I want to fight a bunch of guys and stuff like that. Well, you know what? It’s a bigger fight. Just skip all the mess. I don’t need to go in there and get my ass whooped by one of the young guys, anyway and it’s not that I won’t win. It’s just not motivating to fight somebody that’s – I want to fight for the title. I’m 38 years old. I think I’ll beat him. I would love it if they gave me a shot.”
Leon Edwards might have something to say about that.
The idea of Diaz coming off the bench and fighting Usman for the 170-pound title is no less ridiculous than having ex-lightweight champ Conor McGregor do it, the only difference is “Notorious” is still the top draw in MMA, so at least White and Co. can justify the returns.
Diaz (26-10, 2 NC) has not won a fight in over a decade and has competed just four times since knocking around BJ Penn at UFC 137 back in late 2011. In addition, the 38 year-old Californian raised a few eyebrows with his bizarre UFC 266 post-fight comments.
Perhaps instead of Usman, Diaz can look for revenge against this BMF champ?