Nick Diaz ends his semi-retirement, calls for fight with Anderson Silva
Cesar Gracie, the manager of former Strikeforce middleweight champion Nick Diaz, has today announced his fighter is ready to end his semi-retirement as he looks to see out the remaining months of his current suspension for taking marijuana, as well as calling out Anderson Silva for a future fight.
Speaking via GracieFighter.com, Gracie said:
“For the last couple of months I’ve watched Nick begin to frequent the gym more and more. He’s training harder now than he has for many of his fights. It was obvious that training and fighting is in his DNA. It is who he is. This week we had a great talk and he made it clear to me that he is ready to get back to the cage. Nick Diaz will return. To address the NSAC suspension, I will say that we have appealed to the courts and if things go our way, it will be plausible that Nick could return as early as sometime at the end of this year. For too long NSAC bureaucrats have acted with malicious incompetence towards the fighters. We will challenge them in court.”
“As far as future opponents, Nick has stated that he would like to take fights “that matter”. Since GSP will be fighting Condit, he has to look elsewhere. He will respectfully ask for a fight with Anderson Silva, a fighter he respects and would like to challenge. Silva’s camp has been speaking of a fight with GSP, possibly even at a catch weight. Nick will take that fight in a minute but has told me that should Silva decide not to drop at all, he will move up to 185lbs to face the champ.”
“I will be meeting with Dana next Monday August 6th to discuss this and other issues. If you appreciate Nick’s fighting style, please let Dana know that you want Nick back ASAP.”
With Diaz being a former Strikeforce middleweight champion it isn’t inconceivable to see the man from Stockton square off with Silva down the road but he’ll likely have to get in line and compete against the likes of Chris Weidman, Tim Boetsch and Michael Bisping who are all chomping at the bit. Stay tuned to MMABay for more news on this situation as we get it.
By Michael Pepper. (Follow me on Twitter)
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