‘I Got Stabbed’

Nick Diaz about the challenging upbringing he and Nick Diaz experienced in their youth, prior to UFC 266.

Nick Diaz and his brother, Nate Diaz, know plenty about adversity.

Diaz vs. Robbie Lawler serves as a marquee fight on the pay-per-view (PPV) main card of UFC 266: “Volkanovski vs. Ortega,” which will take place this weekend (Sat., Sept. 25, 2021) inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, streaming online via ESPN+. Ahead of the clash, Diaz opens up about his upbringing in a fight preview titled “Crossing Paths Again” from the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) YouTube channel.

“I came from a really hard town. My brother was getting into gang fights and fights on the street. I got stabbed. But from getting roughed around as a kid, I had a really solid mentality. So when I went out there, I just did what I knew,” Diaz says in the video. “I was just trying to survive and fight. Martial arts is kind of do-or-die. You really have to suck it up and be the ball out there.”

Diaz and Lawler will run things back 17 years after their first fight. The Stockton native won their first fight via knockout (KO) at 1:31 of round two (watch full fight here), improving to 9-2 as a professional mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter. Lawler 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.

Lawler would go to fight in Strikeforce before returning to UFC and capturing the UFC Welterweight title with a split decision win over Johnny Hendricks. He successfully defended the crown against Rory McDonald and Condit.

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Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 266 fight card right here, starting with the early ESPN+ “Prelims” matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. ET, then the remaining undercard balance on ESPNEWS/ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET, before the PPV main card start time at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+ PPV.

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