Anderson Silva Wants Nick Diaz for His UFC Return

Nick Diaz is retired… unless Nick Diaz gets offered a fight and the accompanying money that makes sense to him for a return.

Thus far, he hasn’t been happy with any combination of fight and money that the UFC has posed. The most recent offering was a bout with Hector Lombard.

“I talked to Nick. I offered him the Lombard fight,” UFC president Dana White relayed in late April. “Said he was interested in it and then he’s gone, disappears.”

White has since distanced himself from talk about Nick and Nate Diaz and their issues with getting paid more than what their current contracts require or jumping ahead into title fights and the like.

A fight that might bring Nick Diaz back – and one that might make White rethink attempting to reopen communications with him – is a bout with Anderson Silva.

Silva apparently is the one that is interested in putting a fight together between him and Diaz. Silva’s manager, Ed Soares, told UFC Tonight that Silva felt a fight with Nick Diaz would be a good fight for his return to the Octagon, which he has consistently targeted for early 2015.

While White might not be all hot and bothered about reaching out to Diaz, that could all change in an instant if Silva asks him to do so. Silva has been such a dominant fighter for such a long time, and has been such an important piece of the UFC puzzle, that White is likely to try and make his former champion happy.

And, for his part in the equation, Diaz told UFC Tonight that he has interest in the fight, which he had already said when he first stepped away from the sport.

After losing to Georges St-Pierre at UFC 158, Diaz said that unless he got another fight with Georges St-Pierre or a fight with Anderson Silva or a bout of that caliber, he was likely calling it quits.

Now, with Silva possibly in the offing, Diaz’s interest is once again peaked. The question again would be what is it worth to the UFC, as Diaz said it would have to make “financial sense.”

We’re still quite a ways away from Silva’s return, unless the Spider is playing possum and opts to return sooner than 2015, but we’re likely to continuously hear chatter about the possibility of Silva vs. Diaz until the UFC shoots it down or makes happen.

Is Anderson Silva vs. Nick Diaz a fight that you want to see?