Nick Diaz believes that Robbie Lawler won their fight fair and square. Ultimately, Diaz has no excuses for his performance, despite a six-year layoff from professional competition.
UFC 266
UFC 266 was a star-studded event, packed with elite fighters and box office names. The event was headlined by Alexander Volkanovski defending his UFC featherweight championship against Brian Ortega. As well as a women’s flyweight championship bout between champion Valentina Shevchenko and Lauren Murphy.
Even with two title fights on display, fans filled the T-Mobile arena in jubilation for the return of Nick Diaz. Diaz hasn’t fought professionally since facing Anderson Silva back in 2015. Marijuana violations kept Nick sidelined; however, he returned last night to face Robbie Lawler.
Lawler was KO’d by Diaz in their first encounter at UFC 47 back in 2004. So, the rematch was a fight that he had been looking forward to for nearly two decades. As the men squared off, Robbie ultimately got revenge on Diaz, TKOing him in round three. After hitting Nick with several shots, Diaz decided to remain downed.
Nick Diaz Makes No Excuses After Loss
Immediately after the fight, fans took to social media to voice their belief that Nick “gave up” during the conflict. However, he made no excuses to the media for his first performance in 2015.
“I’m glad I at least put on a show,” Diaz said during his post-fight interview.
“I knew I had it coming. Old Rob. I had a lot of stress coming into this one, especially being off a long time. I don’t have no excuses. I’ve had a long time off and I knew I had it coming.”
“I don’t know how this fight got set up,” Diaz said. “I had a whole switch up in my management setup, the way that the fight got set up. It was just a bum rap.
“But no excuses, I had it coming, he was in great shape. I knew I was leaking [blood] here so I didn’t want to make too much of a mess. I’m glad to be back. I’m glad to put on a show.”
Despite the layoff, Diaz was able to put on a show for all of the fans that have been deprived of the original Stockton King. If Diaz decides to fight again, expect the ring rust to be gone.
