Nick Diaz promises to be more sportsmanlike in the rematch of Robbie Lawler at UFC 266. Diaz returns to the Octagon for the first time in more than five years at UFC 266, when he goes up against Lawler in a rematch that lasts 17 years.
The former Strikeforce champion Nick Diaz promised that he would be better than when they first fought in 2004, and also apparently ruled out using his patented trash talk, which seemed to throw off “Ruthless” during his first-ever defeat by KO.
“I’m not going out there to call him names or, y’know, I’m going to be a lot more sportsmanlike, I think, out there,” Diaz said on the UFC 266 Countdown show. “But that’s not what won me the fight last time. That surprised him a little bit, but I would have won the fight anyways.”
Despite the fact that Nick Diaz is known for his brilliant trash talk, he says that it is difficult for him to speak in public and promotional the work associated with being an elite-level MMA fighter.
“I’m not somebody who’s good with words,” Diaz said. “Just the stress of being able to say the right thing, that was kind of a price I had to pay. Just doing that sort of thing [promotion] non-stop, I’d rather just be out there fighting.”
“People were really taking shots at me and trying to take me out in some sort of way before I go in there. It’s hard for me to show up in the middle of training and going back and forth. And I feel like the world is kind of hammering me so hard, making it like a fair fight … I always walked out there thinking ‘What am I doing, I can’t believe I’m doing this again. I’m like ‘This is not fair!’”