Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) welterweight and current Bellator standout Joe Riggs came to blows with Nick Diaz inside a Las Vegas hospital, not long after the pair went toe-to-toe at the UFC 57: "Liddell vs. Couture 3" pay-per-view (PPV) event back in Feb. of 2006 (see both versions here and here).
Water under the bridge, right?
Wrong.
Riggs (40-14) is still hoping the day will come when he can finish what he started with Diaz, who retired from mixed martial arts (MMA) last March. But he's not looking to trade leather inside the cage. Instead, "Diesel" wants to settle their score inside a boxing ring to prove his opponent's hands are not all they're cracked up to be.
From his interview with MMA Fighting:
"Nick Diaz is a fucking mongoloid. He doesn't even know what he talks about. He's a guy who will see a word in the dictionary and just regurgitate the word and put it to no use. It makes no sense what he's talking about. I'd love to beat the shit out of him. Actually, I'd like to box him, because he thinks he has good hands, but that's besides the point."
Diaz (26-9) has done his share of flirting with the "sweet science."
After winning six straight fights, including his "Fight Master" finale against Mike Bronzoulis last November, Riggs will move on to face Sam Oropeza at Bellator 112 from inside "The Venue" at Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, Indiana, on March 14, 2014.
And then?
Well, that could be up to Diaz.