Morning Report: Nick Diaz says there are ‘no superstars’ for him to fight in his return

Free at last.

Yesterday, Nick Diaz’s year-and-a-half suspension by the Nevada Athletic Commission officially expired meaning Diaz is once again free to compete in sanctioned MMA. Diaz is a fan favorite beloved, for both his in-cage prowess and his eccentric personality, making his return has been heavily anticipated by many in the MMA community. Never one to disappoint, Diaz wasted little time in generating interest in whatever awaits him by speaking with Brett Okamoto of ESPN about his fighting future.

“We’re going to have to sit down and have a look at what fans want to see. I’m on top right now. I’m on top of this game. There ain’t no giving me a shot. I’m giving somebody a shot. If anybody’s getting a shot, somebody’s getting a shot against me because I’m the guy to beat.”

Diaz last fight was a loss to Anderson Silva in January of 2015 that was later turned into a No Contest. Prior to that he lost a title fight against Georges St-Pierre and an interim title fight against Carlos Condit. His last win came in October of 2011 when he defeated former lightweight champion B.J. Penn via three round decision. Despite his recent record, after UFC 201 new champion Tyron Woodley called out Diaz for a title fight at UFC 202. But Diaz doesn’t seem particularly interested in that fight.

“I don’t need to fight. There’s no reason for me to come and fight for fun. I don’t do that. That’s not what I do. I don’t like to hurt people for fun. And I like Tyron Woodley and I like Robbie Lawler so can we talk about a reason about why I should be out to get somebody?

“What are you guys gonna do for me? I can’t help you. You can’t help yourself. You need to go help yourself and then maybe after you do that we can have some sort of deal.”

It appears that Diaz is another fighter on board with the increasing trend of fighters only wanting the most marketable, biggest money opponents. In fact, it was this same justification which led Woodley to call out Diaz. For his part, Diaz appears to view himself as too big a fight for the current welterweight champion who has never established himself as a pay-per-view draw and who just won the title at one of the more unheralded UFC pay-per-views this year.

“I don’t see a superstar out there. I don’t see Georges St-Pierre coming back. He’s too scared to come back and do a fight with me and the rest of these guys are not superstars. Who are they? I don’t even want to say their name because no one even heard it yet until I say something and now everybody knows who the guy is.”

Though Diaz says he doesn’t believe St-Pierre is coming back, St-Pierre is adamant he will return and just recently announced that he would be interested in the proposed fight with Woodley. Like Diaz, St-Pierre says that he is looking for big fights but obviously he believes competing for the welterweight championship qualifies.

Diaz’s disinterest in Woodley may come down to his fixation on a St-Pierre fight, a rematch from their 2013 bout in which Diaz felt he wasn’t treated fairly.

“When I fought Georges St-Pierre in Canada – first of all, somebody freakin’ drugged me. That guy didn’t make weight. The commission comes up to me and tells me that he’s not gonna make weight. And whether it’s a pound or not a pound it doesn’t matter. In Las Vegas – if the fight had been where it should have been – they would’ve not only drug tested us but there is no pound allowance so he would have had to make his full weight.

“And I’ve never been in the best shape of my life like that, ever, and then went out there and just completely zapped like that. There was something funny about that fight. I’m just saying, I didn’t get my fair shot…I remember they drug tested us we all pissed into a film case and they put scotch tape over top. That was the USADA over there.”

If St-Pierre really is only interested in the biggest fights, it’s possible Diaz gets his wish. But even if he doesn’t get the St-Pierre fight, there is sure to be no shortage of opponents looking to get Stockton slapped, including current middleweight champion Michael Bisping. But regardless of who Diaz fights next, it’s good to have Nick back in the game.

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