Masvidal Thinks Diaz Rips ‘Ruthless’: Lawler Isn’t ‘The Same Fighter’

Jorge Masvidal is leaning toward Nick Diaz to defeat Robbie Lawler in their long-awaited rematch at UFC 266.

Jorge Masvidal has spent a lot of time with Robbie Lawler; however, he has doubts that “Ruthless” can rattle Nick Diaz at UFC 266.

Masvidal (No. 6 welterweight) is angling for a potential match-up against Diaz and shared his prediction for Diaz vs. Lawler II, taking place at UFC 266 inside the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on Sat., Sept. 25 via ESPN+ pay-per-view (PPV).

“Very interested in this outcome, of course. Love Robbie Lawler. We were teammates for about four years. One of the better guys in the sport – just a stand-up dude, great dude, great fighter. I don’t think he’s the same fighter that he was four years ago. I haven’t seen Nick Diaz fight in eight years, so this fight to me is very, like – I don’t know what’s going to happen,” Masvidal said in a live Q&A on his YouTube channel (h/t MMA Junkie. “I haven’t seen Nick fight. I didn’t know if he was staying in the best shape or not during these eight years. It’s not that ring rust is everything, but eight years is a lot of time to be sitting on the bench. So I want to say that Robbie hasn’t been looking like himself, he hasn’t been looking the greatest in his fights with – this is a tough one to call for me. But if I was going to put money on it, I’d probably lean towards Nick.”

Diaz (26-9) won their first fight via knockout (KO) at 1:31 of round two, improving to 9-2 as a professional mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter. Lawler (28-15) dropped to 8-2 as a result of the outcome; however, both men were destined for greater things. Diaz amassed an enormous following thanks to his anti-establishment attitude. A win over B.J. Penn was followed by fights against Carlos Condit and Georges St-Pierre for the UFC Interim Welterweight and UFC Welterweight titles, respectively. He subsequently fought Anderson Silva.

UFC 266 is headlined by a UFC Featherweight title fight pitting reigning champion Alex Volkanovski vs. Brian Ortega. Also on the card is a UFC Women’s Flyweight title fight between Valentina Shevchenko and Lauren Murphy.

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