Dana White on Nick Diaz’s UFC comeback: “He doesn’t look ready to compete in this sport”

UFC president Dana White recently indicated that he doesn’t want to see Nick Diaz back in the UFC octagon, despite the 37-year-old working hard for the past few months to fight again. Not just that, the Stockton-native’s manager, Kevin Mubenga, earlier claimed that the elder Diaz brother is looking fit and would “99.99999 per cent” fight in 2021. However, White is not convinced that Diaz should be making his return this year.

Nick Diaz UFC comeback: Dana White thinks Nick should not return to fighting

The UFC supremo recently sat down with ‘The Schmo,’ where he opened up on a number of topics, including the rumours of Nick Diaz’s UFC comeback. When asked about the same, Dana White claimed that he “just don’t know why he (Nick Diaz) would want to come back”. While mentioning Diaz’s recent Instagram posts, White said that the 37-year-old “doesn’t look like he’s ready to compete in this sport” again.

“This sport, even Jon Jones, as good as Jon Jones is, you have to be 100 per cent mentally, physically and emotionally ready to train, be ready for this and fight. And I just don’t think...I don’t think anyone should want to see Nick Diaz fight,” he added.

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Nick Diaz UFC comeback: Diaz wants to fight Jorge Masvidal

In November 2019, Diaz talked to ESPN where he showed interest in fighting at the AT&T Stadium (formerly known as the Cowboys Stadium). He named Jorge Masvidal as his dream opponent, considering the Gamebred had defeated his brother Nate at UFC 244 to win the BMF title. Kevin Mubenga targeted the dream fight to take place in the spring of 2021, but UFC is yet to make it official.

The pandemic has changed everyone’s plans, but Nick Diaz still hopes to fight in 2021. Both the Diaz bothers continued to train, as evidenced by the recap video they shared a few weeks back. The UFC, meanwhile, returned to business after a brief pause due to the pandemic and went on to deliver some remarkable events, including UFC 254, UFC 256 and others.

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Whether or not Diaz is serious about returning, he’ll have to convince Dana White if he wants to fight in UFC again. The brash fighter would have to sign a new deal with the promotion and would have to stay clean. Nick’s last bout came five years ago where he faced ex-middleweight champ Anderson Silva, losing via unanimous decision. However, after the bout, he tested positive for drugs and was suspended.

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Image Source: Nick Diaz/ Instagram, AP