Nick Diaz Talks About a Potential Retirement
Posted by Jeremy Thomas on 03.17.2013
And Dana White weighs in too...
Nick Diaz and Dana White spoke last night at the post-UFC 158 press conference about Diaz's potential retirement and more. Check out the highlights:
Diaz on potentially switching training homes: "I can't be jumping teams. I just have to do the best with what I have. You know what? I've never paid taxes in my life, no joke. And no one wants to hear that kind of talk and what's going on with me. I might as well just be a kid. I've had fight after fight after fight after fight, and you don't know what that does to somebody who didn't graduate high school. Take it into consideration for a second what three fights a year will do to you your whole life. And the only time you have some time off, it's not like it's a vacation – everybody's telling you you're this piece of s---, you're suspended, you ain't fighting this guy, you ain't fighting that guy, you have to come back and dance around a bunch of hard hitting people. It's a rough sport."
White on Diaz's comment: "What's sad is, he better go pay his taxes. He came out publicly tonight and said he's never paid taxes in his life? Holy s---. That's sad. You wanna talk about sad? That's sad. Somebody better handle that with this check and make sure that kid doesn't end up with nothing. There's a guy who's Nate and Nick's lawyer and seems like a decent guy looking out for them. I'll probably give this guy a call and tell him, 'Nick said he's never paid taxes in his life, and you probably want to start working on that f---ing Sunday morning, not Monday morning.'"
White on Diaz's payday: "If you saw his paycheck tonight, you wouldn't feel too bad for him. At the end of the day, Nick has been in the sport forever. He wanted a shot at the title, he got a shot at the title, and he got paid a lot of money for it."
Diaz on a potential retirement: "I just feel like I fought everybody that I set out to fight. Johny (Hendricks) here, he's a new guy. Jake (Ellenberger)'s been around for a little while. But I just feel like I've taken care of everything I wanted to do in the sport. This is hard stuff. I don't ever get any time off. I've only had a year off one time, and it was a stressful year. I was pretty bent out of shape that I didn't win that (Condit) fight. Nobody ever assured me, 'They're going to give you that (St-Pierre) fight.' I was just sitting around depressed the whole year off. I can sit here and make a million excuses about why I wasn't ready for the fight. But I want a rematch. I think I could beat you. I think I may be a better matchup for Anderson Silva, as well. But we'll see what happens. I didn't really have a good first round. I just think I could've been a little better prepared for this fight. I think next time, if I did get an extra shot, I think people would try to help me out a little bit."
White on the possible retirement: "Do I think Nick Diaz should retire? No. But that's not my decision. When a guy starts talking about retirement in this sport, this isn't baseball or basketball, not to diminish those sports, but if you head isn't 100 percent in this game, it's a completely different story. I don't ever question a guy when he talks about retirement. I don't care how good he is. If Georges St-Pierre called me up tomorrow and said I want to retire, I wouldn't go, 'Georges, come on – think about this.' That's their decision and I don't ever question that...We'll see what happens from here on out. It's not like I don't know what to expect being in business with Nick Diaz."
