(Video courtesy of TMZSports | Viewing may be limited by broadcast rights restrictions)
While many had written off Nick Diaz as not interested in returning to the Octagon, it appears that the winds of change are blowing in a different direction.
Diaz (26-9, 2NC) hasn’t fought since losing to Anderson Silva at UFC 183 in January of 2015. That loss was later changed to a no contest when both fighters were sanctioned for anti-doping violations.
Though Diaz is well beyond the ramifications of that suspension, he has shown little interest in returning to the Octagon.
On Monday, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency announced that Diaz had been under another anti-doping policy violation sanction for nearly the past year following three Whereabouts violations.
Like all UFC athletes, Diaz is a member of the UFC Registered Testing Pool and is therefore subject to certain Whereabouts responsibilities, which include keeping USADA abreast of his location so that he can be randomly drug tested. He failed to do so on at least three occasions.
That sanction will be fulfilled on April 19.
Diaz was required to remain in the testing pool during his suspension and did so. He has been tested once in 2018.
After that news broke, Diaz posted a photo on Instagram, including an obscure message: “Back where we left off.”
What that means is anyone’s best guess, but UFC president Dana White, who would likely have a better guess than most of us, chimed in on Diaz’s status when caught on the street by TMZ Sports.
“I think Nick Diaz is interested in fighting right now,” White said. “The rest of this year, nothing but great fights coming up. Hopefully we can make a couple of those (Diaz fights).”
