Any hopes that, in his long-awaited return to mixed martial arts, Nick Diaz was going to resemble the fighter who took the world by storm were dashed only moments into his fight last week with Robbie Lawler. Fighting at 185 pounds – the fight was originally contracted for 170, but was changed just days before at Diaz’s behest – Diaz looked pudgy and slow. He got rocked within the first minute. If you had told me that Diaz hadn’t actually spent a single moment of the last six and a half years training, I’d have believed you.
But then, a funny thing happened. Diaz shrugged off the early damage. He started throwing hands, and gave us a glimpse – granted, a slower and reduced glimpse, but a glimpse nonetheless – of the gamebred badass we remembered. He and Lawler went toe to toe, with Diaz throwing an impressive amount of volume for a fighter who hasn’t fought since the Obama administration: 330 strikes thrown in three rounds, 150 landed.
It was, of course, doomed. But before Lawler stopped him in the third round, Nick Diaz once again lit up the crowd.
In retrospect, Lawler was always going to win. Since Diaz recorded his last pro win, Lawler has won and lost a world championship, had an entire career arc complete with an incredible rise and slow decline. Lawler had lost his last four heading into Saturday’s fight, but had stayed active and in great shape. On the other hand, Diaz had walked away from the sport for years, and his pre-fight comments didn’t encourage hope that this was something that he really wanted.
Diaz physically did not look like a fighter who had his heart in it. He looked like a fighter who hadn’t taken preparation seriously, looked every bit of 38 years old. The fearsome forward pressure wasn’t there – and his pitter-patter punches, which always had more power behind them than it looked, had no bite.
But when Diaz got going – when he shook off Lawler’s early flurry and got into a flow, standing in the pocket and trading with a historically fearsome puncher – it was a thrill. It felt like, even despite his pudgy physique and his years on the shelf, that Nick Diaz was in this fight. And with Diaz in there – a fighter known for his fearlessness and take-no-prisoners attitude – for a moment, it felt like that might be all he needed.
Diaz proved that, at the very least, he could still throw up tons of punches with the best of them. The rest of his game wasn’t there, nor was the desire to push through adversity in the end – Lawler dropped Diaz early in the third round and Diaz simply refused to get up, waving off the fight and handing Lawler a TKO win.
Physically and mentally, Diaz wasn’t the same man we remembered. And ultimately, I have no desire to see that version of Diaz go out there again. I hope, for once, we can take TKO (retirement) in the literal sense. But in the moment? Goddamn, it was fun while it lasted.
The Big Fight 