(I’m just playing, MMA. You know I love you)
We never expected Nick Diaz to stay “retired,” after he lost a close decision to Carlos Condit and got popped and suspended by the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) for marijuana metabolites early in the year. So when Diaz manager/coach Cesar Gracie released a written statement on GracieFighter.com Friday that Diaz will, in fact, return to fighting it just confirmed the obvious.
However, Gracie had another timely bombshell to announce – Diaz would totally fight Anderson Silva, and Diaz’ camp will make the request of the UFC. “‘Silva’s camp has been speaking of a fight with GSP [Georges St. Pierre], possibly even at a catch weight,” Gracie wrote. “Nick will take that fight in a minute but has told me that should Silva decide not to drop at all, he will move up to 185lbs to face the Champ.”
As audacious as the challenge might be, from a rankings and match-up perspective, Diaz’ timing might be pretty good. Anderson Silva’s camp doesn’t seem enthused about the champion fighting any of the current middleweight challengers, saying they want GSP. But GSP has never seemed very interested in fighting Silva and besides, we’d expect him to fight the interim welterweight champ, Condit, first when he returns to action.
Diaz is much smaller than Silva and doesn’t own a belt, but on the other hand we can only imagine how well he’d sell that fight. Additionally, he might be the only other guy that we could expect not to be afraid of Anderson.
Diaz has been unsuccessful in appealing to Nevada’s Attorney General and to the NSAC for leniency in his year-long suspension but Gracie says that they are seeking remedy in court. ”To address the NSAC suspension, I will say that we have appealed to the courts and if things go our way, it will be plausible that Nick could return as early as sometime at the end of this year,” Gracie wrote.
He also said that he will be meeting with UFC President Dana White on August 6th to discuss Nick Diaz’ future. What do you say, nation – should Uncle Dana be open to the idea of UFC 160: Stockton vs. Curritiba?