UFC president Dana White isn’t sold on Nick Diaz’s desire to return to competition.
The 37-year-old Diaz, who hasn’t fought since UFC 183 in January 2015, met with White to discuss a comeback after UFC 261 last month in Jacksonville, Fla.
“It went good,” White told ESPN of that meeting. “My whole thing with Nick Diaz is I just question how badly he really wants to fight. We got together, we had a great conversation, talked about a possible comeback for him. I just don’t know. We’ll see how it plays out this summer and the rest of this year.”
Diaz (26-9 MMA, 7-6 UFC) is a former Strikeforce welterweight champion, but White is concerned about both the long layoff and whether Diaz has anything left to prove.
“It’s just the amount of time that he’s taken off already,” White said. “When you hear him talk about fighting, when you hear him talk about the sport — and I sit down daily, or talk to daily, hungry, young savages that want to break into the top 10, become world champions, all that stuff. Nick Diaz has done it all, seen it all. He’s been in big fights. I just don’t see that in him when I talk to him.”
Diaz’s last win in the UFC Octagon was a unanimous decision against B.J. Penn at UFC 137 in Las Vegas on Oct. 29, 2011.
–Field Level Media