UFC President Dana White hasn’t always been enthusiastic about a Nick Diaz return to the Octagon.
Diaz, who hasn’t fought in over six years, has publicly talked about competing again on-and-off since 2016 after successfully appealing his over-the-top five-year suspension handed to him by the Nevada State Athletic Commission following a a failed drug test for marijuana metabolites at UFC 183.
Nothing ever came to fruition. However, White now believes that Diaz’s long-awaited return will come through in 2021.
“I wasn’t very high on that,” White said of Diaz’s comeback in an interview with UFC Arabia. “I didn’t think that it would happen but it looks like it will. It looks like Nick Diaz will fight this year.”
Now aged 37, former Strikeforce welterweight champion Diaz hasn’t left the cage victorious since defeating B.J. Penn at UFC 137 in 2011. 10 years later, it appears Diaz will get the chance to continue his career and get back in the win column.
“The last time that I saw him in Jacksonville but it looks like it’s going to happen,” White said. “We’ll see. The matchmakers have [talked to him] but I don’t know where we’re at on it but it’s looking promising.
“You never hear me say that ever. ‘You think Nick Diaz will fight this year?’ Absolutely, positively not is what I usually say. [It’s] looking promising.”
