Nick Diaz: I’m Disappointed In Eddie Alvarez
Former UFC welterweight title challenger Nick Diaz has now been cleared to fight by the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC), following his failed drug test from UFC 183 in January of last year, and mixed martial arts (MMA) fans patiently await an announcement regarding the former Strikeforce champ’s Octagon return.
Recently Diaz joined the Jasta Show, courtesy of Bloody Elbow, to discuss his return amongst other things, including UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor‘s historical win over Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205 last month.
Diaz has somewhat of a history with ‘The Notorious One’, as his younger brother Nate has fought McGregor twice now, with each men holding one win over the other. Due to his suspensions, however, Nick was unable to corner his little brother during the two biggest fights of his MMA career.
Following the momentary conclusion of his rivalry with Diaz, McGregor moved on to try to make promotion history by challenging Eddie Alvarez for the lightweight title in attempt to become the first ever dual-weight champion the UFC has ever seen, as the Irishman then held the featherweight crown at the time.
McGregor went on to execute a perfect performance against ‘The Underground King’, knocking him out in the second round with a vicious left hand. While he holds nothing against Alvarez, Diaz doesn’t believe the former lightweight champion took the contest as seriously as he should have:
“You know what?” Diaz started. “I have nothing against Alvarez. Like, I like Alvarez. I’ve never had nothing bad to say about him. He’s started kinda popping off about… I don’t care. He can say whatever he wants…
“Just in general, I’m just disappointed in him for the fight. I want to feel sorry for him. I want to feel like, ‘Man, I feel bad for you.’ But, you know what? What do you think you’re going to get, dude. You have a whole… I don’t want to disrespect Eddie Alvarez.
“What I’m saying though is, that he’s invested a lot of his time and efforts elsewhere and not in fighting. In the time leading up to that fight, I think McGregor put a lot more time into it and understanding. And he was a lot more in tune with his understanding.”
Diaz moved on to compare Alvarez and McGregor’s confidence side-by-side, claiming that Alvarez thinks that he is a winner while McGregor knows he is:
“Where Eddie Alvarez is kinda just, he thinks he’s a winner, and he wants to believe that. McGregor knows why he’s a winner and knows why he believes that. For me, I have to base my faith in stuff that works and shit I can see and stuff that I know.
“Not just like, “Oh, yeah you know, I’m gonna win by…” Pump myself up and go out there. I think about, “Okay, well, if this guy does this, I’m gonna do that.” And I can see it. I know, I watch. I know what I’m looking at.”
Both Alvarez and McGregor are expected to take a lengthy amount of time off after their historical match-up at Madison Square Garden, while Diaz is expected to make his Octagon return anytime now.
Who do you think the Pride Of Stockton will return to face-off against?
