The twists and turns of Nick Diaz’s comeback fight week continued Wednesday.
Diaz (26-9 MMA, 7-6 UFC) was scheduled to attend UFC 266 media day ahead of his planned rematch with Robbie Lawler (28-15 MMA, 13-9 UFC) on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Originally scheduled to speak with MMA Junkie and other media outlets at 1 p.m. ET, Diaz did not arrive at the UFC Apex until roughly 4 p.m. ET. The remainder of the fighters – including Lawler – all made their appearances before members of the UFC’s public relations team informed those in attendance at 6:15 p.m. ET that Diaz would not be answering questions.
Diaz’s decision to skip media day comes on the heels of a controversy to kick off fight week. After originally signing for the bout with Lawler to take place at welterweight, Diaz’s team requested on Tuesday for it to be moved up to middleweight.
UFC president Dana White told “The Jim Rome Show” on Wednesday that Lawler has agreed, and the fight will proceed at a new weight class. When speaking to reporters during his media day slot, Lawler said he’s prepared to fight and simply remarked, “It is what it is.”
Diaz hasn’t competed in MMA since January 2015, when he fought Anderson Silva to a unanimous decision loss. The result was overturned to a no contest when Diaz tested positive for marijuana and Silva tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs.
An eventual octagon comeback for Diaz has been discussed on and off for the past half decade. Fight week hi-jinx were not foreign to Diaz during his previous UFC stint, and it seems to have picked up where it left off.
Diaz is not the first fighter who has opted to skip a UFC media day obligation. His younger brother, Nate Diaz, did the same thing ahead of his UFC 241 fight with Anthony Pettis in July 2019, and others on the roster have followed suit.
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