Nick Diaz Skips UFC 158 Open Workouts

When the time came for Nick Diaz’s scheduled UFC 158 open workout session for media and fans in Montreal on Wednesday, the Octagon remained empty.  The challenger to the welterweight title did not show up.

Diaz’s camp told MMAWeekly.com that they were in contact with UFC officials over not appearing.

Diaz’s manager, Cesar Gracie, tweeted, “We asked @danawhite (Dana White) if we could reschedule open workout.  @nickdiaz209 (Nick Diaz) wants to be at his best for this fight.”

This isn’t the first time Diaz has failed to show up for media obligations.  Leading up to his first scheduled fight with champion Georges St-Pierre at UFC 137, Diaz missed two press conferences and several flights, costing the UFC a reported $15,000. He was subsequently removed from the fight.

White nearly pulled Diaz from the UFC 158: St-Pierre vs. Diaz bout due to Diaz no-showing a taping of the Countdown to UFC 158.

A conversation between White and Diaz’s lawyer straightened out the situation and Diaz fulfilled his Countdown to UFC 158 obligations.

During an appearance on Jim Rome’s radio show Wednesday, White commented,  ”I got to tell you this, though, I leave tonight for Montreal. The press conference is tomorrow, I’m excited for the press conference and I’m definitely excited for the weigh-ins cause, you never know what you’re going to get. Well, let me tell you what, if he does not show up tomorrow for the press conference, it is not going to be good. I don’t know what I’ll say or what I’m going to do, but I’ll tell you what — it will not be good.”

“If he wins the title he’s going to have to come to Vegas and we’re going to have to sit down and we did this already when we signed his new deal, but I’m going to have to tell him, ‘If you miss anything, I will strip you of this title,’” added the UFC president. “I don’t know what else to do. I really don’t know what else to do.”

The UFC 158: St-Pierre vs. Diaz pre-fight press conference streams live, Thursday at 1 p.m. ET.

(Jim Rome transcript courtesy of MMA reporter Mike Bohn.)