A solemn Nick Diaz gave ESPN’s Brett Okamoto a vulnerable insight to his thoughts leading up to this weekend’s rematch against Robbie Lawler. While 38-year old Diaz says he’s feeling good and hitting hard, his outlook isn’t exactly a positive one.
“I never enjoyed fighting, it’s just something that I do… It’s just what I do. I tried to get away from it, but really it’s just inevitable… I don’t wanna look back and say, ‘why did I not just do it?’”
“I’m going in there to win. Do I feel confident? I never do. I never have. I’ve always felt like I’m gonna get trashed out there. Every fight I’ve ever done. ‘Oh, how do you feel against Robbie Lawler?’ I feel like I’m gonna get the s— beat out of me. And even I when I win, I get beat up worse… I do believe that [I’m the best fighter in the world.] I do believe that. But, given the [circumstances]- I mean, who do you have, Usman? I think I’ll beat the s— out of Usman. I have a better shot at beating Usman than I do Lawler, just because of the moral [aspect], because I already beat Lawler, it just doesn’t make sense for me to go in there to fight Robbie Lawler again. I don’t even know why I’m doing this. I don’t know why I’m doing this. This should not happen. Whoever set this up is an idiot. I don’t know why I’m doing this. I don’t know why this happened. I should be fighting Kamaru Usman, and that’s it.”
“Hey, I feel like that every fight, so. I’m kind of a dark and dim person leading up to a fight. Because I just despise these people who are happy to go out there. I always say the same thing, and I’m like ‘Oh, you’re so happy and oh, this is gonna go [great]’. Like, you don’t have a doubt in your mind that you’re going to lose? You’re so full of s—. You know? That’s fake. And if it’s not fake, then you must be crazy. Of course anything can happen out there.”
Neither Diaz or Okamoto mentioned the fight’s move from 170 lbs to 185 lbs.
A BJJ black belt known for his highly technical hands, Nick Diaz’s fights are always exciting. In 38 matches, he has only seen 14 decisions. His last fight was a decision loss to Anderson Silva, which was later ruled a no contest after Silva tested positive for PEDs.
On the other side of the octagon, the heavy-handed former UFC welterweight champion Robbie Lawler has a record of 28-15, boasting 20 knockouts. He is currently on a 4-fight losing streak, with his last win coming against Donald Cerrone at UFC 214 on July 29, 2017 and his most recent TKO against Rory MacDonald at UFC 189 on July 11, 2015.
Catch the full interview on YouTube here:
