Nick Diaz is returning to professional MMA after almost three years away, and he will be facing off against Vicente Luque at UFC on ABC 7 on August 3rd, 2024. He’s no stranger to long periods of inactivity though, as he went without a fight for 6 years before that and this will be only his third fight in the last decade. Although Diaz is one of the most popular fighters on the UFC roster with a ton of elite experience behind him, he is also coming up on 13 years without a win in the sport due to both this inactivity and a lack of results in the cage.
Diaz was at the very top of the sport during a lot of his career, winning the inaugural welterweight titles at both WEC and StrikeForce. He first started his professional MMA career back in 2001 and was fighting in the UFC as early as 2003, racking up some big wins during his first stint in the promotion. He competed for pretty much every major MMA promotion around when he left the UFC the first time around, including appearances at PRIDE and Dream. He built a name for himself as one of the toughest and most entertaining competitors in the sport in the process, all leading up to his UFC return in 2011.
Diaz was successful in his return fight against BJ Penn, but that was also the last time he had his hand raised in the octagon. He lost a welterweight title-eliminator to Carlos Condit the following year, before losing a title-fight to Georges St-Pierre the year after that. After a short break he took on Anderson Silva in a superfight at UFC 183, but that was another loss that was eventually overturned to a No Contest. A failed test kept him out of action for a few years before he eventually faced Robbie Lawler in a rematch, a TKO loss that was his last competitive appearance.
In his latest return to MMA, Nick Diaz faces another tough challenge in the form of Vicente Luque. Not only is Luque 8 years younger than Diaz but he’s also ranked at 14th in the UFC welterweight division. He’s got a respectable 22-10-1 professional MMA record and although he’s coming off a loss, Luque is also a dangerous opponent for anyone in the division. A win would likely see Diaz break into the rankings for the first time in a long time, while it’s also a great opportunity for Luque to bounce back and add a big name to his resume.
Nick Diaz announced the news that he would be making his return to professional MMA against Vicente Luque at UFC on ABC 7 in a recent post to his official Instagram account:
