If Nick Diaz ever fights again, it appears a matchup with Jorge Masvidal is among his top interests.
ESPN released a long interview with Diaz (26-9 MMA, 7-6 UFC) on Monday in which he touched on many subjects revolving around his absence from the octagon since January 2015.
One of the leading narratives, though, is that Diaz was irked by some of the comments Masvidal (35-13 MMA, 12-6 UFC) made in the buildup to and aftermath of UFC 244, where “Gamebred” beat Diaz’s younger brother, Nate.
According to a follow-up report from ESPN.com, Diaz is interested in making his comeback in 2020, and Masvidal is the desired opponent.
“You want to talk about baptizing my younger brother? That’s on you,” Diaz told “Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show.” “I never had nothing disrespectful to say. But you don’t talk about baptizing my younger brother. So you’re already in a (expletive) position if you fight with me. You don’t talk about (expletive) baptizing someone’s brother. That’s my baby brother. You don’t talk like that to nobody.
“So who is riding on whose side? You want to say that, you want to do that, you want to walk, that’s on you. I can relate to you, that’s why I ain’t mad at you. But if you want to walk that’s on you.”
The UFC announced a fight between Diaz and Masvidal for UFC 235 in March, but it was never made official. Diaz insisted from the beginning that he never committed or signed a contract, and as a result felt slighted by the UFC brass.
“I’m on the poster with this guy I’m like, ‘What the (expletive)? Nobody talked to me. What are you talking about?’” Diaz said. “I’m on a poster. What the? C’mon. That’s cool if I’m going to be fighting this guy, but like, why are you doing this to me? You’re just giving this advantage and giving more power to the opposite team. No offense to the opposite team. Let’s just play fair a little bit.”
Diaz indicated his younger brother gave him the green light to do a rare interview and seemingly push the agenda for a Masvidal matchup.
Getting Diaz back in the cage seemingly won’t be easy. He said he needs to be paid and it must be something “big” like a AT&T Stadium in Dallas.
Ultimately, Diaz said the choice will be hi. He’s only fought three times in the past eight years and is nearing the four-year anniversary of his most recent bout, an infamous UFC 183 meeting with Anderson Silva after which both fighters were suspended. Nothing has forced Diaz to operate outside of his chosen path, and he said that won’t change now.
“The BMF, the 170, that’s my belt,” Diaz said. “But I’m not going to get in my brothers way of taking it. As far as I’m concerned that’s my belt. … This ain’t up to no UFC. We’ve seen that in the past already. I don’t need to do anything more than what I’ve already done here. I don’t know what to tell you people. All I know is I’ve got a whole lot of people who feel the same way.”
Nick Diaz: Jorge Masvidal 'in a (expletive) position' if we fight, 'BMF' title is 'my belt'
