Will the Real Nick Diaz Please Stand Up?

“In order to love fighting, I have to hate it. There’s no love in this without hate. You’ve got to love it so that you want it so bad that you’re pushing yourself to those limits, to where you just simply hate it. If you ain’t there to where you hate it, then good luck trying to love this (expletive).” ~ Nick Diaz

Who is Nick Diaz?

Is he the brash, unapologetic middle finger waving fighter who blows off interviews and press conferences? Or is Diaz the dedicated teammate that would literally bend over backwards to help someone in need around fight time?

Well, the truth is most people don’t know who Nick Diaz is exactly, but that’s what the recent UFC Primetime show hoped to expose a little bit more.

The feedback has been tremendous thus far according to UFC president Dana White, who hoped to finally show a little different side of Nick Diaz than what many fans had seen before.

“The feedback’s been phenomenal on it. I think that we did the best job of interviewing Nick Diaz and getting this next episode that’s coming up is pretty good, too,” White said recently.

“It’s fascinating, he’s one fascinating human being.”

The final episode of the UFC Primetime special airs this Friday on FX, and White believes that Diaz, who is already considered one of the most polarizing figures in all of MMA, may have turned a corner with some fans because of the series.

“I think Nick Diaz has gained a lot of fans after that first episode. So we’ll see what happens after all three are done and the fight happens,” White stated.

Cesar Gracie, who acts as both manager and trainer for Diaz, admits that it was a tough sell to go along with the UFC Primetime cameras following the fighter around 24 hours a day while he got ready for the biggest fight of his career.

The team itself had gone through it before when Diaz’s teammate Jake Shields did a Primetime series around his fight with Georges St-Pierre in 2011, but adding Diaz into the mix is a different sort of experiment.

“As far as someone like Nick, he kind of avoids the spotlight, so it’s definitely different for him,” Gracie told MMAWeekly Radio. “It’s a bit of an intrusion, I’ll be honest. If we had the choice of doing it or not doing it, I think it would be not to do it. But it’s part of promoting the thing, and this is a big fight and we want to do our part, so we did what we had to do.”

The good part is that fans and viewers are seeing a different side of Nick Diaz than they had ever seen before. The Primetime show has interviews with family members, former teachers, coaches, and of course Diaz himself.

The one resounding thing that is echoed by everybody when talking about Diaz is that he’s not some thug or miscreant who can’t handle himself in normal society.

“I think it’s good to get the true story out there,” Gracie stated. “It’s something I’ve known the whole time, and most people only see these guys when they’re getting ready for a fight, and they’re getting ready for their battle. That’s just how they are.

“It’s good to see the guy in his natural element, how he talks to his friends, etc.”

The final episode of UFC Primetime: Diaz vs. Condit airs this Friday night on FX.

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