Cesar Gracie; "Nick Diaz wants a main-event fight for his return, preferably GSP"

Quote :

Nick Diaz is very excited about his return to action in 2013, and he’s looking for the biggest fight possible.

Still serving out his one-year suspension after testing positive for marijuana following his last bout in 2012, the Stockton native is eyeing his return early next year when his ban is lifted in February.

Once licensed, Diaz is gunning for the biggest fights possible, and that includes settling a long standing rivalry with UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre or current top contender Johny Hendricks.

“Nick Diaz is a main event fighter,” Diaz’s manager and trainer Cesar Gracie told MMAWeekly.com on Wednesday. “He wants main event fights.”

In a perfect world according to Gracie, Diaz would return to the UFC and face St-Pierre right away with the UFC welterweight title on the line.

Diaz and St-Pierre have no love lost for each other, and both competitors still appear interested in settling the score inside the Octagon. Last weekend during St-Pierre’s return to action against Carlos Condit at UFC 154, Diaz tweeted that he was not impressed by the champion’s performance.

St-Pierre fired back during the post fight press conference by saying, “I did better than Nick did against Carlos (Condit”. St-Pierre defeated Condit by unanimous decision at UFC 154, while Diaz lost to Condit at UFC 142 last year.

As far as other names in the mix to face Diaz upon his return such as former welterweight title contender Josh Koscheck, Gracie keeps it simple and says the Stockton bad boy wants main event fights, and whoever that happens to be, that’s who it will be

http://www.mmaweekly.com/nick-diaz-wants-main-event-fight-when-he-returns-still-targeting-georges-st-pierre

Well... thats not fuckin likely... maybe a main event on FX against KOS...

That's roughly what I'm thinking. You don't get a title shot coming off a loss (unless your Chael Sonnen), and you don't get to headline a PPV unless you're fighting for the title.

I think he would likely get a co-main event spot against a top guy, though. Or like you said; headline an FX card. If he picks up the W, he almost certainly would headline a PPV against GSP, and that would be huge!

I thought he quit.

Me too. I want a main event fight too, guys.

Yeah asking for GSP is silly.

I actually hate the Kos matchup. Too much potential for Kos dry humping him all fight and making nick quit again...lol

I think an awesome return fight for Nick would be against Kampman! Those two will go at it and fill the octagon with blood...

I actually would rather see Kos dry hump him and make him quit again. Just because you're Nick Diaz doesn't mean you can cry and whine because you don't get the fight you want or the style you want. Screw that, put him against another defensive fighter, see how he handles it two times in a row.

Like I said the first time he cried and threatened that he was leaving...if you don't like the outcome...then don't let the door hit ya where the good Lord split ya...

Yeah I'd like to see him fight Kampmann for sure. I never even thought about that matchup before. Demian Maia would be a great fight, too.

One thing to keep in mind about this is that this is Cesar Gracie saying this. I don't doubt for a second that Diaz wants to fight GSP or main-event against somebody else (why wouldn't he?), but Gracie is making it sound like Diaz will only accept a small handful of fights for his return fight. I don't think that's the case. I think this is another example of Cesar Gracie trying to go the Ed Soares route and use his fighter's popularity to get himself some air time and say stupid shit. You never heard anything from this guy until the Diaz vs GSP hype train started rolling, and then suddenly he's got something to say at every opportunity.

Totally agree...Nick would definitely take the GSP fight if given, but I think he takes a lot of shit for what Don King I mean Cesar Gracie says.