UFC's Nick Diaz trades in narrow focus for trying new things
LAS VEGAS – Nick Diaz was just a couple of weeks past his 18th birthday when he turned professional on Aug. 31, 2001. He so devoted his life to his career that it was not until recently that he began to truly appreciate that there is more to life than training and fighting.
Things that others take for granted as a normal part of life were things that Diaz didn't have time to contemplate because he was immersed in being the best fighter he could be.
"I wouldn't say it's things I've neglected, but it's things that I put off until later that most people, in their 20s and 30s, do as a part of normal, everyday life," Diaz said. "When I get home after four hours of training, training the way I train to do this [expletive], man, all I want is food, water and to be able to get my rest.
"There was always another fight I had to get ready for, and so I didn't have time for all that other stuff. But I'm no different than anyone else. I want to do the things everyone else does, but I didn't have the time because it was always just train, fight, train, fight, train, fight."
One of the things Diaz never really contemplated until the past couple of years was when to start a family. He had also never been into just randomly going shopping … until doing so recently. Even from a career standpoint, he has broken out of the routine of training exclusively in Stockton, Calif., and ventured to different camps.
Diaz returns to the Octagon on Saturday for the first time in nearly two years to face the legendary Anderson Silva in the main event of UFC 183 at the MGM Grand Garden.
Diaz's image is clearly important to him, but he insists he's among the misunderstood fighters in the world. He's not the bad guy, but it's a perception of him that endures.
He has no filter and very bluntly says what he thinks.
Following his loss to welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre at UFC 158 in 2013, Nick Diaz went on a long and winding rant after the fight. Diaz often speaks in a stream of consciousness mode, changing thoughts only slightly less often than he takes a breath.
But when Diaz told the media horde that had watched him lose a unanimous decision to St-Pierre in their welterweight title fight that he hadn't paid taxes and was probably heading to jail, that turned out to be too much even for Dana White.
"I just have to invest a little money, now that I have some money," Diaz said after that fight. "You know what? I've never paid taxes in my life. I'm probably going to go to jail."
The UFC president buried his head on the podium as Diaz bared his soul. That's not the only time Diaz's remarks to the media have raised eyebrows.
While he said he is not anti-media and doesn't mind doing interviews, he says they're often scheduled for him at inopportune times. Video interviews, in particular, are rough for him because of the timing, he says.
"Ask anyone who trains with us," Diaz said. "We train hard. We don't play because this isn't a game. Fighting isn't fun and games; it's serious [expletive] and you got to be ready. And so I don't mind the interviews, but after I've had the [expletive] beaten out of me in practice and maybe there is a bruise or a black eye or something is messed up, don't come and stick no camera in my face then and ask me to sit down and do a long interview.
"I don't understand it. These fighters like [heavyweight champion] Cain Velasquez, [women's bantamweight champion] Ronda Rousey, [Urijah] Faber, they don't have to deal with all the [expletive]. They have time to prepare and be ready for the [expletive] they have to do. They don't have to go in and do an interview with a black eye when it looks like somebody just beat the [expletive] out of them. That's all I ask. I don't mind doing interviews. Just get them for me at the right time."
He's got the right opponent at the right time. In Silva, he faces the man that many believe to be the greatest mixed martial arts fighter of all time.
It's not for a title and it's not in his typical weight class, but it's a bout against an opponent that he respects who has also shown him great respect in return.
The sport appears to be coming out of a lull now, with a series of big fights. There hasn't been the kind of consistent excitement in MMA since Diaz lost to St-Pierre and went on a nearly two-year break.
He hasn't been impressed by what he's seen in the interim, but vows to help change that.
"There is a lot to life that I want to experience," he said. "There are a lot of things I want to do. But I'm a real fighter and when there is a fight, the one thing you know for sure is I'm going to train the right way and that I'm going to fight the right way.
"It takes over your life. At least it took over mine. I didn't know any better for a long time. It was train and fight and pretty much nothing else."
