Some people are beyond reproach. It can be at the office, at the schoolyard, even in team sports.
You’ve seen the guy or gal: boss’ favorite, teacher’s favorite, coach’s favorite.
You probably hate this person, too.
That doesn’t change the fact that he or she is basically untouchable, though, be it for a strong work ethic, smarts or talent.
MMA is different. The boss is a bald guy who shouts so loudly and so frequently that the top of his head turns a volcanic red. The teachers are equal parts warrior and philosopher, a Greg Jackson or maybe a Matt Hume. The coaches are the same guys, dragging you through the grind for eight or ten weeks while you slog towards physical warfare with another dangerous man.
In that world, you have Nick Diaz.
Diaz is certainly not a favorite of any boss. He is largely his own teacher, and he has only had Richard Perez and Cesar Gracie as coaches of whom he could be a favorite. By walking that path and simply doing whatever he’s wanted for as long as he’s seen it reasonable, he’s become one of the hottest commodities in the sport.
Now, heading into UFC 183 and fixing to throw hands for the first time in nearly two years, he’ll have arguably the biggest fight of his career. He’ll stand across from an all-time great, Anderson Silva, for the second time in as many fights after a 2013 loss to Georges St-Pierre and a subsequent retirement.
The result, for all intents and purposes, doesn’t even matter.
If Diaz wins, he’ll probably get to pick his next move. He might call out Chris Weidman or Robbie Lawler for a title fight or decide to go home and sit on a heap of cash until St-Pierre returns and a big-money rematch presents itself. Not bad for a guy who’d be looking at only his second win since 2011.
If he loses, he’s still one of the greatest antiheroes MMA has ever seen and one of the most beloved in professional sports today. He was a welterweight who hadn’t fought in two years and came back at middleweight to fight the best that division has ever seen. He’ll be 1-3 since returning to the UFC in 2011 and still be among the more popular men in the game.
Either way, he’s Nick Diaz, and people will pay to see him fight. He’s guaranteed excitement when he hits the cage, and his antics during fight weeks are the stuff of legend. He has the type of raw magnetism you simply can’t create in the sport, a purity in his words and actions that have turned him into an icon.
It’s that fact that has allowed Diaz to get to where he is today: fighting big fights for big money and worrying about other components of his career later. He’s long been trumpeting the idea that he’d basically fight anyone if the UFC would pay him enough to do it, and he’s backing that up by taking the Silva fight.
That’s why it’s OK for him to lose the fight. It’s not about the result; it’s about the fact that he stepped in the cage in the first place. Diaz’s appearance at the UFC 183 main event is about as Diaz as it gets, and there’s plenty to love about that.
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