Fan favorite UFC lightweight contender Nate Diaz will be returning to the cage this weekend at UFC Phoenix on ESPN, he just won’t be doing any fighting. Instead, the younger Diaz brother will be cornering BJJ ace Kron Gracie in his UFC debut opposite the always exciting Alex Caceres.
ESPN’s Greg Rosenstein has the details:
Kron Gracie will enter this fight with a perfect 4-0 MMA record. His three most recent wins all occurred under the RIZIN Fighting Federation banner, where he defeated Erson Yamamoto, Hideo Tokoro and Tatsuya Kawajiri, all by submission.
Alex Caceres, meanwhile, is 14-11-0 overall. In his last fight, he defeated Martín Bravo by split decision. This win was defeated by a decision loss to Guan Wang and a stoppage defeat of Rolando Dy.
Nate Diaz has not fought since August of 2016, when he gave up a close, majority decision to Conor McGregor. The Stockton, California native was expected to return to the cage against Dustin Poirier at UFC 230 in November, but this plan was scrapped when Poirier sustained an unfortunate injury.
Since then, there’s been widespread wonder as to whether or not Diaz ever return to the Octagon — as a fighter, not just a cornerman.
This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 2/12/2019.