Like many fans, Jake Shields is looking forward to a Nick Diaz return, but hopes his long-time training partner “does it right” this time around.
A bit of an update came from the Nick Diaz camp this week regarding his next fight. According to his long-time mentor Cesar Gracie, fans can expect the 38-year-old Diaz to be back in action before the year ends.
But based on his UFC 266 performance against Robbie Lawler last September, many are also on the fence about Diaz fighting again. For UFC president Dana White, the former Strikeforce champion should give his career a lot of thought because he may just be doing it “cause he has to.”
But if you ask Jake Shields, all that Diaz needs is proper preparation.
“I think he wants to (fight again), but I really hope he has a proper camp and does it right,” Shields said in his recent guest appearance on the JRE MMA Show.
Right after UFC 266, Shields posted a few tweets saying how his longtime friend and training partner was “pressured” into taking the fight. As he told Rogan, Nick was “going through some tough times in his life” at the time, which likely affected his motivation going into the contest.
“I think a lot of it was his motivation. He was kind of, like, pushed into the fight… the fight happened so quick, and he hadn’t been training at all. Then all of a sudden, he was, like, fighting in two months. It was this kind of rush, he didn’t have a chance to do a camp,” Shields said.
“Nick’s like a brother, I really hope he fights again. But he needs to make sure to properly do a camp.”
Diaz holds a professional record of 26-10 (with 2 NCs).
