Anderson Silva and Conor McGregor got people talking after UFC 234 about the possibility of turning UFC 237 in Curitiba, Brazil into a Diaz brothers spectacular. Following his well-fought decision loss to Israel Adesanya, Silva floated the idea of a rematch against Nick Diaz. McGregor followed that up on Twitter saying he’d love to rematch Nate on the same card.
Alas, Nick and Nate have been out of competition for years, regularly stating the UFC isn’t willing to pay them enough to return. But if there’s anyone with enough promotional clout to get the Diaz brothers back into the Octagon, it’s Conor McGregor. Still, it doesn’t sound likely. Those close to Nick Diaz have been using the word ‘retired’ to describe his fighting status, and the elder Diaz brother took to Instagram shortly after Silva’s callout to turn it down.
”We’re getting drunk right now. F**k all this!” Nick said in an Instagram Story, swinging a bottle of tequila in front of the camera. “I don’t want to hurt nobody. I just want to party.”
That’s bound to disappoint fans, and not just in a selfish way. Nick’s decision to retire is fair – he’s fought 37 times since 2001, and if he’s made enough money to never step into the cage again, then good for him. But anyone following his social media accounts knows he’s partying like Slurms MacKenzie out there, a far cry from the clean living pot-centric Nick that used to exist before Ronda Rousey taught him how to drink.
But hey, it’s his life. I certainly don’t have the moral high ground to chastise anyone for their private endeavors. I’m just here to put Nick’s current state into context so you don’t get too excited about the possibility of him returning to face Anderson Silva later this year. As it stands, we’d believe Nick when he says he’s done fighting, unless Nick himself says otherwise.