Jake Shields is hoping his longtime friend and teammate, Nick Diaz fights again.
Diaz made his highly-anticipated return back at UFC 266 against Robbie Lawler. The fight came together quickly but on fight week, Diaz got the fight moved to middleweight and many were concerned with that. Ultimately, he suffered a TKO loss to Lawler and after the bout, Shields says Diaz was forced into taking the fight.
After the fight, Dana White had said he hopes Diaz retires, but recently his coach came out and said Diaz would fight again by the end of the year. If that is the case, Shields says he hopes his friend does a proper training camp this time around.
“I don’t know (if he will fight again), for his last fight, he obviously wasn’t in the best situation you know, mentally and stuff,” Shield said on the Joe Rogan Experience. “So I would like to see him fight again but I’d like to see him do a proper camp.”
When Rogan asked Shields how Diaz’s last camp was, the former UFC title challenger was brutally honest saying the fan-favorite didn’t do much training.
“I think he wants to but I really hope he does a proper camp and does it right, because (the last training camp was) not much. I think he was just going through some tough times in his life and you know, I don’t want to get into his personal life too much but I think he was going through a tough time. I would have liked to pull the fight and move it back, personally.”
Jake Shields says he does want to see Nick Diaz fight again as he knows he can still compete. Yet, he wants to see Diaz have a proper training camp with the right amount of time to prepare.
“A lot of it was just motivation, he was kind of like pushed (into the fight). The fight happened so quick and he hadn’t been training at all. And all of a sudden he was like fighting in two months, it was just kind of rushed. Nick’s like a brother, I really hope he fights again but he needs to make sure to properly do a camp,” Shields concluded.
Would you like to see Nick Diaz fight again?