Nick Diaz on UFC 158 open workout no show: 'I needed my sleep, it was either miss that or the press conference'

Nick Diaz was up to his old tricks yesterday (March 13, 2013) as the Stockton slugger failed to show for the scheduled UFC 158 open workouts, proving that tough habits are hard to break.

Or are they?

According to Diaz -- who said he would have loved to have been there for the fans -- Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) was at fault for his no-show, blaming the promotion for bringing him into Canada at midnight the night before.

Basically, he isn't to blame for skipping out on yet another media obligation and said it was either miss the workouts or miss the press conference because the scrappy welterweight needed his rest in order to put on a show on Saturday night).

His words from today's UFC 158 pre-fight press conference:

"It was either I miss yesterday's open workout or I miss this. I needed to catch up on sleep. I was on some later hours and I think it outweighed the repercussions. I'm sorry for the fans. I like to put on a show for the fans but I also like to put on a show for the fans Saturday night. So, I had to make the best decision to make the best showing at 100 percent."

On top of catching up on some much-needed rest, Diaz said he -- like all the rest of the fighters on the card -- was cutting weight and needed to rid himself of dangerous water toxins he was holding in his body due to the lengthy plane ride from California all the way to Montreal.

"I got off the plane at 12:00 pm. I recommend for any fighter as well as my students to go ahead and sweat out some of that toxic water that you're holding from the airplane. It's gotta happen. It's gotta happen dude. You can't be going to bed with that toxic shit inside of you when you have a fight in a couple of days and I wanted to catch up on some sleep. I'm here, I'm well rested. I'm here at my best today and I think that's more important than the open workouts. Like I said, I apologize for the fans they missed out on that."

I guess you can say the man has his priorities.

The good news is, Diaz is in Montreal and the title fight against current 170-pound kingpin Georges St. Pierre will go on as planned and if last week's insane conference call and today's presser is any indication, the fight will be very emotional and entertaining.

Unless, of course, some unforeseen catastrophic event goes down.

Fingers crossed.