Nick Diaz is no longer returning to the Octagon on August 3rd. The UFC legend looked to make his return at the UFC Abu Dhabi event against Vicente Luque but it would appear that travel issues seem to have messed up his comeback.
Diaz has not fought since his loss to Robbie Lawler back in 2021. He has been away from the public spotlight and kept to himself. The OG has not hung up his gloves yet despite what the public opinion was. He still has the fire in his belly and wants to keep going.
However, the company will now have to reschedule the fight now as per the UFC broadcast on Saturday night.
“Nick Diaz vs. Vicente Luque is OFF #UFCAbuDhabi on August 3rd. “Travel issue” named as the reason”
| Nick Diaz vs. Vicente Luque is OFF #UFCAbuDhabi on August 3rd.
“Travel issue” named as the reason, per the UFC broadcast. pic.twitter.com/ZGtctVV7OO
— MMA Orbit (@mma_orbit) July 21, 2024
The Diaz fight would have been the co-main event of the evening.
In his absence, Russia’s Shara Magomedov has now replaced the American as he takes on Michal Oleksiejczuk in the co-main event.
That said, while the older Diaz brother has not fought in over 3 years, his influence in the organization can still be seen even today.
Rose Namajunas channeled her inner Nick Diaz against Cortez
Rose Namajunas took on Tracy Cortez at UFC Fight Night in the main event of the evening.
Namajunas dominated the entire fight, even knocking Cortez down. During an interview in the post-fight press conference, she spoke about channeling her inner Nick Diaz!
“I guess that kinda stuck in my mind at that moment. I didn’t mean to rip off him but I just didn’t want to play into her thing….If she can’t catch me, she can’t catch me.”
“I didn’t mean to rip him off but I wasn’t going to play into her”
Rose Namajunas explains channeling her inner Nick Diaz against Tracy Cortez #UFCDenver pic.twitter.com/IWGL5VkR92
— FULL SEND MMA (@full_send_mma) July 14, 2024
Namajunas, like Diaz is a real gangster inside an octagon. She will go up against anyone and just take the fight to them for the whole of 5 rounds. And just like Diaz, she has pulled off some victories where no one expected her to, like taking the championship away from Zhang Weili.
No one saw that head kick coming, definitely not Weili!