Nick Diaz: ‘If I get my ass whooped’ at UFC 266, ‘I want to come right back’

Nick Diaz seems keen to continue his modern-day Octagon campaign, whether or not he beats Robbie Lawler at UFC 266.

Diaz vs. Lawler is the most-anticipated fight on the pay-per-view (PPV) main card of UFC 266: “Volkanovski vs. Ortega,” which will take place this weekend (Sat., Sept. 25, 2021) inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, streaming online via ESPN+. Diaz touched on his ambitions in mixed martial arts (MMA) at Thursday’s pre-fight press conference (watch the staredowns here).

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“Definitely want to do this more often, especially if I get my ass whooped,” Diaz said (h/t MMA Fighting). “If I get my ass whooped, I want to come back right away. If I get my ass whooped, I want to come right back.”

While Diaz acknowledged the majority support he had from the crowd on Wednesday, he couldn’t help but contemplate where that love has been in his absence.

“I’m not knocking the UFC, just maybe the whole sport in general,” Diaz said. “I always fought, I had three to five fights a year for like 17 years or so. All I ever thought about was weight, what am I going to eat After a while, you realize there’s more to life. After a while, you realize there’s more to life and everybody digs their heels into you while you’re down. It’s kind of rough.

“It’s nice to see a lot of support like two weeks leading up to a fight. But what about the last five years? That’s kind of how I feel. Of course, I get a lot of hi’s and byes and I’ve done plenty of handshakes. I’d like to take some of those back.”

Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 266 fight card right here, starting with the early ESPN+ “Prelims” matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. ET, then the remaining undercard balance on ESPNEWS/ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET, before the PPV main card start time at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+ PPV.

To check out the latest and greatest UFC 266: “Volkanovski vs. Ortega” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here.