After 17 years of fighting against each other in the octagon, Nick Diaz and Robbie Lawler are set for their rematch in a five-round non-title fight at UFC 266 in September.
Nick Diaz’s younger brother, Nate Diaz made history at UFC 263 when he faced Leon Edwards in the first-ever five-round, non-title bout and now it’s time for his brother Nick to do the same. On Tuesday night it was confirmed that Nick Diaz will return to the octagon to face Robbie Lawler at UFC 266 which headlines a Featherweight Championship bout between Alexander Volkanovski and Brian Ortega and Women’s Flyweight Championship bout between Valentina Shevchenko and Lauren Murphy.
Diaz and Lawler went head-to-head back at UFC 47 in 2004 where both the fighters traded a lot of blows while the 20-year-old Nick Diaz kept taunting Lawler throughout the bout before Diaz knocked out Lawler in 1 minute 31 seconds of round two. Since then every UFC fan has been expecting a rematch between these two welterweight giants and after 17 years, the fight is finally confirmed.
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Nick Diaz (26-9-2) has not stepped in the octagon since 2015, which was after his loss to Anderson Silva which was overturned as the Brazilian failed a drug test. In his long UFC career, the 37-year-old has picked up some notable wins against fighters like B.J.Penn, Paul Daley, and Frank Shamrock. As for Robbie Lawler (28-15-1), who was once a UFC welterweight champion has some renowned victories over fighters like Johny Hendrick, Carlos Condit, Donald Cerrone, and Rory MacDonald twice. Currently, Lawler is on a four-fight losing streak with his last victory coming in 2017.
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For the fans, it wouldn’t really matter who wins the fight but what really matters is that Nick Diaz is stepping into the octagon after a six-year absence and that too for a rematch that took 17 years in the making.
[Image Credit: diazband]
Shashank Iyer