Nick Diaz: 'I Live a Fight Life'
Nick Diaz: 'I Live a Fight Life'
Despite not having fought in nearly two years, Nick Diaz is still a man in high demand.
Speaking yesterday in a rare interview on the Opie Radio show, the elder Diaz brother spoke in detail about his current status and whether he'd be interested in a return fight with his old rival, Georges St-Pierre.
"When he's ready to fight [I'm down], but I doubt whether he's really being serious [about coming back," Diaz said. "He barely says anything about coming back and then everyone is like he's coming back. You never know with him."
Nick then explained his mentality towards fighting and why he wasn't so desperate to return.
"I think anybody is afraid to fight me, they got to be stupid," Diaz said. "I'm afraid to fight anybody. I'm not afraid to say that I'm afraid to fight somebody. You are going to pay me, I'm not going to enjoy it.
"That's where we get into this huge controversy with people saying they love what they do. This is a curse. I just wound up being the guy for the job and it just is what is. So we are just going to go out there and deal with it or I'm kicking myself later saying I could've been a contender I could've been somebody.
"The thing is I've never lost a fight that I'm fighting," he continued. "You got a guy that run away or hold on, but if they come out and fight me, they know they aren't a better so they don't go there. People know what they are looking at, they ain't stupid."
Diaz then spoke about his passion for doing triathlons and described how he'd used them to stay ready for whenever the phone rings from the UFC.
"I don't get too competitive," Diaz said talking about triathlon races. "This is just an investment I made to keep in shape all year round so that I'm ready to go.
[instagram url="https://www.instagram.com/p/BEsE0_oJXQg/" hide_caption="0"]
"If a fight comes up I'm not going to go out there and race all hard. If I do have a race like two weeks away from a fight, I'm not going to go out there and kill myself. I'm just going to have a nice race."
The elder Diaz brother the described the approach he'd taken to his career and how it had differed from how some other fighters had approached the fight game. It was an eye-opening comparison to say the least.
"I put a lot into this," Diaz said. "People don't understand, you want to come into this with a life and a nice wife--motherf***** I don't have any of that. I don't get to go home to my nice wife and nice life. You are putting all that effort into your nice wife and I'm putting 100% into what I do.
"I'm going to f*** your whole world up in front of your nice wife and nice life--it's not going to be fun. Like Alvarez, I'm not trying to say anything, but, he ended up being the guy for the job to and now you're fighting McGregor and it was like, you got so much riding on, you can't act the way that I act and say the things that I'm capable to say--I've built this whole platform. I live a fight life.
[instagram url="https://www.instagram.com/p/BMrwyqDDg44/" hide_caption="0"]
"I can do whatever I want to win a fight. You have to worry about what people think about you and when all that goes out into the media, people start believing the hype. When you have a whole family, you don't have the freedom to say or do whatever you want to do.
"If I want to say f*** you and look at you in the face and say f*** your mother, I can do that. I don't have to worry about being a good role model."
Despite not wanting to ever be a role model, Diaz has certainly turned into one with a legion of fans. He described when he first came to realization that his public profile had grown to a significant size when he first fought Georges St-Pierre back at UFC 158 in 2013.
"I didn't know I was a role model," Diaz said. "I didn't know I was famous for a really long time. When I first fought George St-Pierre I had this like soccer mum pull up next to me at a stop light and say "I hope he beats your ass".
"I was like, I got this soccer mum coming up to me, where's the hometown love right? It was rough, I was like I'm sorry I'm not a good role model for your children--they never gave me the opportunity to be."
Diaz then elaborated on that point about never being promoted as a good role model by explaining how Georges St-Pierre had influenced the media.
"George is like this big role model with these sport and athletic endorsements and he started talking s*** saying "Nick Diaz is a bad guy; Nick Diaz deserves to get beat down"," Diaz explained. "I'm like, I'm starting to feel some type of way about this now. I've got some like soccer mum pull up. I'm like, I want to be on a Wheaties box, I want to get paid for some endorsements and I want them to want me to win the UFC title, but they don't want me in that position. They will do anything to keep me away from that.
"I don't care anymore. I don't need the f****** dough. I negotiated a pay-per-view into my contract without a title--I'm the first person to do that. These motherf****** were pointing the finger at me, calling me stupid the whole time."
Speaking yesterday in a rare interview on the Opie Radio show, the elder Diaz brother spoke in detail about his current status and whether he'd be interested in a return fight with his old rival, Georges St-Pierre.
"When he's ready to fight [I'm down], but I doubt whether he's really being serious [about coming back," Diaz said. "He barely says anything about coming back and then everyone is like he's coming back. You never know with him."
Nick then explained his mentality towards fighting and why he wasn't so desperate to return.
"I think anybody is afraid to fight me, they got to be stupid," Diaz said. "I'm afraid to fight anybody. I'm not afraid to say that I'm afraid to fight somebody. You are going to pay me, I'm not going to enjoy it.
"That's where we get into this huge controversy with people saying they love what they do. This is a curse. I just wound up being the guy for the job and it just is what is. So we are just going to go out there and deal with it or I'm kicking myself later saying I could've been a contender I could've been somebody.
"The thing is I've never lost a fight that I'm fighting," he continued. "You got a guy that run away or hold on, but if they come out and fight me, they know they aren't a better so they don't go there. People know what they are looking at, they ain't stupid."
Diaz then spoke about his passion for doing triathlons and described how he'd used them to stay ready for whenever the phone rings from the UFC.
"I don't get too competitive," Diaz said talking about triathlon races. "This is just an investment I made to keep in shape all year round so that I'm ready to go.
[instagram url="https://www.instagram.com/p/BEsE0_oJXQg/" hide_caption="0"]
"If a fight comes up I'm not going to go out there and race all hard. If I do have a race like two weeks away from a fight, I'm not going to go out there and kill myself. I'm just going to have a nice race."
The elder Diaz brother the described the approach he'd taken to his career and how it had differed from how some other fighters had approached the fight game. It was an eye-opening comparison to say the least.
"I put a lot into this," Diaz said. "People don't understand, you want to come into this with a life and a nice wife--motherf***** I don't have any of that. I don't get to go home to my nice wife and nice life. You are putting all that effort into your nice wife and I'm putting 100% into what I do.
"I'm going to f*** your whole world up in front of your nice wife and nice life--it's not going to be fun. Like Alvarez, I'm not trying to say anything, but, he ended up being the guy for the job to and now you're fighting McGregor and it was like, you got so much riding on, you can't act the way that I act and say the things that I'm capable to say--I've built this whole platform. I live a fight life.
[instagram url="https://www.instagram.com/p/BMrwyqDDg44/" hide_caption="0"]
"I can do whatever I want to win a fight. You have to worry about what people think about you and when all that goes out into the media, people start believing the hype. When you have a whole family, you don't have the freedom to say or do whatever you want to do.
"If I want to say f*** you and look at you in the face and say f*** your mother, I can do that. I don't have to worry about being a good role model."
Despite not wanting to ever be a role model, Diaz has certainly turned into one with a legion of fans. He described when he first came to realization that his public profile had grown to a significant size when he first fought Georges St-Pierre back at UFC 158 in 2013.
"I didn't know I was a role model," Diaz said. "I didn't know I was famous for a really long time. When I first fought George St-Pierre I had this like soccer mum pull up next to me at a stop light and say "I hope he beats your ass".
"I was like, I got this soccer mum coming up to me, where's the hometown love right? It was rough, I was like I'm sorry I'm not a good role model for your children--they never gave me the opportunity to be."
Diaz then elaborated on that point about never being promoted as a good role model by explaining how Georges St-Pierre had influenced the media.
"George is like this big role model with these sport and athletic endorsements and he started talking s*** saying "Nick Diaz is a bad guy; Nick Diaz deserves to get beat down"," Diaz explained. "I'm like, I'm starting to feel some type of way about this now. I've got some like soccer mum pull up. I'm like, I want to be on a Wheaties box, I want to get paid for some endorsements and I want them to want me to win the UFC title, but they don't want me in that position. They will do anything to keep me away from that.
"I don't care anymore. I don't need the f****** dough. I negotiated a pay-per-view into my contract without a title--I'm the first person to do that. These motherf****** were pointing the finger at me, calling me stupid the whole time."