CSAC confirms UFC welterweight Nick Diaz trying to start new MMA promotion

Maybe this time, Nick Diaz‘s retirement vow will stick.

The recent UFC welterweight title challenger, after his unsuccessful bid for Georges St-Pierre‘s title this past March, again hinted at hanging up the gloves. He did the same after his UFC 143 loss to Carlos Condit, only to return after a yearlong suspension to challenge St-Pierre.

This time, though, Diaz may indeed be serious about the retirement talk – even though he seemed to oscillate between quitting and staying at UFC 158's post-fight news conference in March, saying he believed he could give Anderson Silva a challenge at middleweight.

Diaz has parked a website for a planned promotion called WAR Mixed Martial Arts at NickDiazPromotions.com. And a similar Twitter account has been created, as well.

While a knee-jerk reaction would be to take such a thing with a grain of salt, given Diaz’s recent history, it appears the promotion is well on its start to becoming a reality.

An official with the California State Athletic Commission on Monday told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) that Diaz has started the process of applying for a promoter’s license in the state. Diaz, along with his brother Nate, famously are based in Stockton, Calif.

The official cautioned, however, that much still needed to be done before WAR MMA could put on a show. Among the items the CSAC would need to review prior to approving a license include financial statements, resumes and an article of incorporation.

The official did say that a background check on Diaz performed by the CSAC came back clean.

It’s been an interesting little stretch for Diaz, to say the least. After returning to the UFC as Strikeforce’s welterweight champion, he was booked for a title fight against St-Pierre at UFC 137. But when Diaz missed a pair of news conferences promoting the event, UFC President Dana White pulled him from the fight and put Carlos Condit in in his place.

St-Pierre, though, went on to injure his knee, and a bout between Diaz and B.J. Penn served as the UFC 137 main event. With a dominant win over Penn and subsequent callout of St-Pierre, Diaz was again ushered to the front of the line and was expected to fight the champ on Super Bowl weekend – with Condit asked to wait for the winner. But when St-Pierre re-iniured his knee, it set up an interim title fight between Diaz and Condit at UFC 143.

Diaz lost that fight in a somewhat controversial decision. After the loss, he vowed retirement. Then he tested positive for marijuana metabolites after the fight and was suspended for a year. After several hearings in Nevada challenging his suspension and its legality, Diaz ultimately served out the entirety of his suspension before returning – following a loss and suspension – to challenge St-Pierre in Montreal in March.

And after that loss, he again mentioned retirement – and even told MMAjunkie.com he hadn’t paid taxes in years.

Without a fight lined up, it appears Diaz’s claims of retirement may be legit if his planned MMA promotion can be seen through to completion. As of this past month, White said he’s fine giving Diaz another fight if he wants one.

(Pictured: Nick Diaz)