MMA media went wild towards the end of summer when Nick Diaz announced that he had completed a test weight-cut and was eyeing up a return to the UFC in 2021. Now his manager, Kevin Mubenga, has confirmed that not only is that still the goal for the former WEC and Strikeforce World Champion, but the odds are now in the fans favor as there is a “99.999% chance” that he manages to make it back in the cage in 2021. Mubenga appeared on the Fight Game Chronicles podcast to give the first update on the elder Diaz brother’s return to professional MMA since that test weight-cut:
“We were two months in by that time, that was August or September where he was going two months hard. Now, we are in December, so, he is four or five months in. He took a little break because you don’t want to overtrain and over-exhausted. Took a little break last month and now we’re gonna pick it back up in December and go into the new year hopefully with a deal done. Make sure the money is right and the opponent is right and we’ll be able to move forward.”
According to Mubenga, everything is ready to go on the Nick Diaz side in order to make his 2021 return to the UFC a reality, the team are just working to finalize a deal with the promotion in the coming weeks:
“We just gotta get everything else right with the organization and with everything, and we’ll be able to move forward.”
With this exciting news, coupled with the hints from Nate Diaz that he also intends to make a return to the octagon in 2021, the chances are growing that fans get to see the Diaz brothers competing together again for the first time since 2015.
