(Video courtesy of YouTube/HDNetFights)
In an interview he did this week with Kenny Rice from HDNet’s Inside MMA, Nick Diaz‘s longtime trainer and manager Cesar Gracie says that the next time the scrappy Stockton California fighter competes, it will be in a boxing ring against Fernando Vargas.
“I’d love Vargas to get in there with him. Fernando Vargas. I know they’ve contacted him and he’s very interested. We’ve actually signed on the dotted line for that fight ourselves and we’re waiting on him now,” Diaz revealed in the clip from the interview that aird Friday. “It’s on already. We’ve already signed for it. We’re looking at September or October for something like that. We’re just waiting on their camp now.”
If we’ve learned anything from other MMA fighters who have attempted to go toe-to-toe with professional boxers, it’s that although it seemed like a good idea at the time, it usually isn’t.
Sure Vargas hasn’t won since 2005 and he is about to make his return from a hiatus from the ring on May 14 in California, but a quick glance at his record shows that the former IBF and WBA light middleweight champ was only ever beaten by future Boxing Hall-of-Famers like Oscar De La Hoya, Ricardo Mayorga, Felix Trinidad and Shane Mosley.
In an interview he did with Ariel Helwani prior to his successful Strikeforce welterweight title defense against Paul Daley last weekend, Diaz seemed unsure as to if and when he would compete in the The Sweet Science, but mentioned that he was overworked and underpaid. Upon hearing this, Strikforce CEO Scott Coker told Helwani that Diaz, who received a 90-day medical suspension for the cut he received over his left eyebrow in the fight would be put on ice for a while as per his request.
Diaz told HDNet that there’s no one left for him to face under the Strikeforce banner and that he doesn’t see any of the UFC’s top welterweights to step up to face him because of the risk to their records and rankings he poses.
“They don’t have anybody else for me to fight now. I’m better than all these guys they have. The guys they have ranked above me, I’m sure they don’t want to fight me, so I don’t see much of a future in this sport for me. I honestly don’t especially if there isn’t a whole shitload of money going on,” Diaz explained. “I’m signed into some contract that I don’t know a thing about. I don’t know anything about that shit. I got a manager. All I know is that my life’s a living hell, full of training, grueling exercise every day, catering to everybody else and not worrying about my self sort of thing, you know?”
It could be worse, Nick. Ask any roofer, construction worker or road crew how hard their jobs are and training a few hours a day and fighting three or four times a year may not seem so bad.
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This is crazy talk – Nick Diaz almost lost that fight to Paul Daley. He was dazed and floored twice, before he recovered to win. Are any of the top 10 UFC welterweights going to let you recover? Daley was gassed and failed to take advantage – ultimately he gassed so bad that he was ripe for the picking.
Put Diaz up against Koscheck or Fitch and you’ll see a very different outcome. These guys are pros, strong wrestlers and good alround fighters – I can’t stand either of them by the way but I don’t see Diaz getting past either of them.