‘I would love to see him f*** people up… but I don’t want him to get hurt’: Jorge Masvidal admits he is worried about Nick Diaz and claims seeing 38-year-old in peak shape again ‘might not be a reality’
- Nick Diaz made his long-awaited return to the octagon in Robbie Lawler defeat
- Fan favourite effectively waved off his own fight when stopped in the third round
- Jorge Masvidal is concerned that the 38-year-old could damage himself
- He also claimed that his last performance was not even close to the old Diaz
Jorge Masvidal is worried 38-year-old Nick Diaz will seriously hurt himself if he takes another fight in the UFC while out of shape.
Masvidal, who defeated Nick’s younger brother Nate for the BMF belt in 2019, admitted he is unsure whether Diaz’s recent return to action was financially motivated.
The veteran effectively fought to a self-imposed stoppage against Robbie Lawler in his first fight for six years, two months ago.
Nick Diaz was beaten in his first fight back for six years when he took on Robbie Lawler
Jorge Masvidal, pictured here in defeat by Kamaru Usman, is worried about Diaz
And Masvidal expressed his concern on The MMA Hour, saying: ‘[It was] not the Nick Diaz that I’m accustomed to, obviously. I was fighting alongside Nick when he was in Strikeforce and I was in Strikeforce, so I knew a very different Nick Diaz. I don’t want to see the guy get hurt, man.
‘I would love to see him in peak shape, go in there and f**k some people up, but I don’t know how much of a reality that is now after seeing his last performance. I want to see him not get hurt.
‘And if he does go back in there, I want to see him as close as we can to his old self. I don’t think his last performance, we got to see that.
After the defeat, Diaz hinted that he had been pressured into taking the fight before he was ready and was therefore not in peak shape.
It remains to be seen whether he will step back into the octagon and if money is his motivation, and Masvidal is glad he does not have to encounter the same problems.
Despite the entertaining contest, Masvidal is reluctant to see the veteran put himself at risk
‘I don’t know what Nick Diaz is going through. I don’t know [if he’s dealing with the] IRS. I don’t what it is, why he was fighting,’ Masvidal went on.
‘Nobody’s going to come telling me. Thank goodness, on a financial level, I never have to fight again. If I continue to fight now or not, I’m good financially, so I don’t see myself in those predicaments where I’m going to come back to fight for money. I’ll come back to fight because I love it, it’s my DNA.
‘I love doing this more than anything I’ve done in this world. But as far as for financial situations and stuff, I won’t be back in here. I worked too hard for this, I put too much money aside a long time ago, so I don’t have to worry about that.
‘Gamebred’ is unsure what Diaz’s motivations for fighting are now he is past his prime
‘The day that I walk away from it, it’s because I feel that I no longer can compete at that level. I’m not going to be nobody’s footstool. I’m not going to hold nobody’s jock strap either. No way.’
Masvidal recently pulled out of his UFC 269 fight against Leon Edwards due to an undisclosed injury.
He suffered a KO defeat by Kamaru Usman back in April and now Edwards seems intent on waiting for a title shot, rather than waiting for Masvidal to heal up.