UFC: Dana White and Jeff Novitzky say that Nick Diaz wants to fight in the UFC again

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Looks like both Diaz brothers are sick of sitting on the sidelines and want to get back to doing what they do best – fighting. Nick Diaz, the elder Diaz brother, has been absent from the sport ever since he lost a unanimous decision to Anderson Silva at UFC 183, a fight whose result was overturned when Silva was flagged by USADA for testing positive for PEDs.

Ironically, Nick Diaz himself tested positive for marijuana metabolites in his bloodstream not long after, resulting in a lengthy ban. In the face of vehement public opposition, however, his ban was eventually shortened and he became eligible to fight again in the UFC in 2016.

Nick Diaz in line for a UFC comeback?
(PC: MMA Weekly)

However, it wasn’t that simple for Diaz to get back to regular competition as under the USADA rules, every fighter has to regularly update the testing agency of his whereabouts.

Nick Diaz, however, has reportedly violated that clause thrice in a 12 month period.

UFC’s vice-president of Athlete Health and Performance, Jeff Novitzky, who is also the company’s point of contact with USADA, had this to say on the matter.

Nick was our first fighter that ran into the whereabouts issue.

So he got three whereabouts failures in a rolling 12 months, so he’s currently going through that process. It’s a tough one

However, he did confirm that Nick Diaz was keen on fighting again…something Dana White also confirmed in an interview with TMZ.

Asked if the elder Diaz brother is in line for a comeback, the UFC president had this to say.

I don’t know.

“I think Nick Diaz is interested in fighting right now. We’ll see how that plays out.”

One of the reasons why Nick Diaz’s fighting future is still up in the air despite his supposed willingness to fight is primarily due to the whereabouts violation. However, it’s a situation that still requires some work to resolve, says Novitzki.

The unfortunate thing there is, look, the whereabouts failures are there to catch people that are cheating and trying to avoid testing.

I just think Nick’s lifestyle led to those three whereabouts, not that he was trying to avoid testing.

We’re trying to work through that

Do you think Nick Diaz will fight again? If so, who would you want to see him fight?

Sound off in the comments section below.

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