UFC President Dana White is attempting to find an opponent for Carlos Condit at UFC 171 on March 15th in Dallas, and he offered the fight to Nick Diaz on Saturday night in Sacramento.
However, Diaz turned down the fight and the former Strikeforce champion may be interested in returning to the UFC in May.
“He doesn’t want the fight,” White said at the UFC on FOX 9 Post Fight Press Conference. “I thought he wanted the rematch but he’s not interested. He said maybe he’d be interested in coming back in May.”
White did state that Diaz was interested in facing the winner of the vacant welterweight title bout Johny Hendricks and Robbie Lawler. However, White responded to Diaz saying that he is the number ten guy in the division and things do not work that way.
Diaz (26-9, 1NC) has lost back to back fights in the UFC and has not competed since UFC 158, which he lost a decision to Georges St-Pierre. Following the fight, Diaz said that he was retiring and ended up starting his own mixed martial arts promotion. WAR MMA has only had one show, which took place in June.
With Diaz out of the picture, White will have to look for other potential fights for Condit at UFC 171. Tyron Woodley has expressed interest in the fight on Twitter and White said during his post fight media scrum that Woodley texts him all the time about potential fights for him.