Potential Freak Show of the Day: UFC Offers Nick Diaz a Fight Against Lyoto Machida at Middleweight

(Did we learn *nothing* from the death of Fat BJ?? / Video via K1)

Now that a broken heart is pulling Nick Diaz out of his hypothetical bullshit retirement, the UFC is trying to lure the anti-social Stocktonite back into a major fight. During a Q&A session in Boston yesterday, UFC president Dana White revealed that he had offered Diaz a very unexpected matchup for his Octagon return:

“I talked to Diaz today, and I made him an offer, so we’ll see what happens,” White said. “He had been talking about going to 185 pounds. [Lyoto] Machida has been talking about going to 185 pounds. So we wanted to see if he wanted to fight Machida at 185…They said they’d get back to me.”

But wait a minute, wasn’t Dana trying to set up Machida vs. Vitor Belfort?

“I wanted Machida to fight Vitor Belfort, but Vitor Belfort is his own matchmaker, apparently,” White joked. “He wants to make his own fights.”


(Did we learn *nothing* from the death of Fat BJ?? / Video via K1)

Now that a broken heart is pulling Nick Diaz out of his hypothetical bullshit retirement, the UFC is trying to lure the anti-social Stocktonite back into a major fight. During a Q&A session in Boston yesterday, UFC president Dana White revealed that he had offered Diaz a very unexpected matchup for his Octagon return:

“I talked to Diaz today, and I made him an offer, so we’ll see what happens,” White said. “He had been talking about going to 185 pounds. [Lyoto] Machida has been talking about going to 185 pounds. So we wanted to see if he wanted to fight Machida at 185…They said they’d get back to me.”

But wait a minute, wasn’t Dana trying to set up Machida vs. Vitor Belfort?

“I wanted Machida to fight Vitor Belfort, but Vitor Belfort is his own matchmaker, apparently,” White joked. “He wants to make his own fights.”

Wow. Diaz vs. Machida…interesting. You might even call it “kind of neat.” At first glance, a longtime welterweight fighting a longtime light-heavyweight might seem like the kind of freak-show fight best suited for a batshit regional promotion that doesn’t have a reputation to protect. But if you look at the tale of the tape, the matchup isn’t as crazy as it sounds. Diaz is 6’0″ with a 76″ reach, while Machida is 6’1″ with a 74″ reach. Plus, Diaz has had experience fighting above welterweight, winning catchweight bouts against Frank Shamrock and Scott Smith during his Strikeforce run, while Machida would be dropping below 205 for the first time.

The biggest problem with the matchup has to do with styles. If there’s anything that Diaz and his crew hate, it’s motherfuckers who play that slip and run game. Machida’s entire game-plan is based on being evasive, and baiting his opponents into charging at him. In other words, the fight is custom-designed to frustrate the hell out of Diaz. Maybe Nick and his manager Cesar Gracie will recognize this and turn the fight down; maybe the lure of another marquee UFC fight will be too much to resist. Would you want to see it?