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Nick Diaz Interview
Found this on the graciefighter forums maybe it has already been posted but here you go
-March 2007
thaFormula.com - How did your connection start with Ceasar Gracie?
Nick Diaz - I went to Tokay high school in Lodi and a friend of mine was always talking about how his older brother did Jiu Jitsu and trained with like a Lions Den or Shamrock or something like that in Lodi. So when I was like 16, I stopped by there to lift some weights and then I found out that they were doing choke holds and shit like that in there, so I went in there and started learning how to choke people and learning Jiu Jitsu and stuff like that from a guy named Steve Heath, because he trained Jiu Jitsu under Ceasar Gracie and he was a blue belt and its real hard to get a blue belt under Ceasar Gracie. Everybody that's a blue belt is really, really good. It's like you might as well be a black belt almost in other schools if your a blue belt under Ceasar Gracie. So I learned alot from this guy and he took me right up there to meet Ceasar right away, because I choked most of the guys that he had trained and taught because he had his own group of guys there that he was working out with, cause he was gonna go fight Chuck Lidell. So I helped him to go train to fight Chuck Lidell when I was real young , like 16 and he had a group of guys and I would beat all those guys so he brought me up to meet Ceasar right away and then Ceasar started putting me in fights when I was like 16 or 17.
thaFormula.com - So was Jiu Jitsu something you felt was natural to you?
Nick Diaz - As far as Jiu Jitsu, yeah I think it was and I think that's why I took that Jiu Jitsu path instead of that like Lions Den type of way that everybody else was going towards. There was alot of body builders in the sport right when I started. Alot of like athletic people from like wrestling coaches and wrestlers and I moreso wanted to learn Jiu Jitsu and I was into boxing. So it was a little bit different for me. So I was choking alot of these guys and stuff like that and uh we had Jens Pulver training with us too. For like my first 3 or 4 months of training, I trained with Jens Pulver. Him and Steve Heath and that was before he went to the Militech team, and so he went to the Militech team and I went to the Gracie academy and started learning Jiu Jitsu.
thaFormula.com - How was Pulver back then when you started to train with him?
Nick Diaz - Well, I would train with him and I would roll with him and I had never done anything, and he had already been fighting in the UFC so he taught me alot about boxing, because he was a more experienced boxer, so he taught me alot about boxing right away and how to wrap my hands with long hand wrap and he had good boxing fundamentals, which is really surprising because alot of people in MMA had never had any boxing experience, but apparently he was pretty good I suppose because he had this boxing experience that he had gone through and he was a pretty established wrestler to, so he would get in there and box guys and sprawl and beat em up and knock em out and take them down and pound on them. He had some good wrestling, but he got me going really well on my boxing. He got me jabbing and moving really well to my right. Actually I started out sparring conventional, he got me jabbing with my left and circling to the left and it got me moving really well circling around the guy and throwing a jab and moving and stepping out of the way of the right hand. Another good thing is I was right around the area from some good pro boxers and Ceasar Gracie took me to the boxing gym. The difference between me and alot of MMA fighters is I went to the boxing gym and I trained boxing. I'm a pro boxer too and I have had some pro boxing bouts and I have trained with alot of pro boxers. I would actually have alot more pro boxing bouts if I had the time and if they paid as much money as I'm getting paid for MMA right now, but fortunately I'm getting paid alot in MMA and I know who I'm going up against alot of times and what I'm dealing with.
thaFormula.com - Now you started your career with 4 victories in a row which I'm sure felt great at the time. In your 5th match you fought Jeremy Jackson. Did you know the type of fighter you were going up against when you stepped in the octagon with him and were you prepared for him?
Nick Diaz - No I wasn't. The reason why I took Jeremy Jackson so lightly was because I have a training partner named Jake Shields and Jake Shields had finished the same opponent earlier in another organization. He fought Jeremy and it was a easy fight for him. They took him really, really, lightly because he had no wrestling credentials and Jake is a wrestler, so he's dealing with the wrestling game and they are only worried about wrestlers. So they took him lightly because they knew it was just a double leg and then a mount and then a finish. So I go in there to fight this guy and he had some good boxing skills. I'm about 17 or 18 years old in this show. This guy he has some good boxing skills and some serious good boxing fundamentals and a serious idea of what to do with these fighters he was dealing with and he also had a good look at me before this show, and its not so much that I didn't do my homework, but there wasn't youtube back then like there is now and you couldn't just look up who you are fighting. So I didn't know who I was fighting and I come out there to fight this guy, I didn't come out there to double leg him and hold him down the whole fight. So he popped me with a stiff jab and dropped me in the first round and then I got back up, then I get dropped with another one and then I got back up and after that you know I took quite a few punches on the ground. I still wasn't out but I wasn't there you know. I was just taking punches and they stop the fight on me. As far as I'm concerned, that's my only loss that I have had to deal with and I feel like I lost. The rest of the fights, I'm like whatever you know. They know they lost and I don't feel like I lost and I know they don't wanna fight me again. I'm trying to get a rematch with everybody I lost too and that's the last thing I'm sure they wanna do.
thaFormula.com - So looking back at that Jeremy Jackson fight, do you look at that fight as you just being really inexperienced at the time?
Nick Diaz - Absolutely because everybody else told me to take him down and I said, yeah whatever. I didn't know what I was dealing with. I fought him twice after that and of course I wasn't trying to have a standup war with him once I knew what his weakness was, and how he didn't have any grappling coaches or any good Jiu Jitsu around him, so it was gonna be real easy to take him down and finish him and do the job like that, so there wasn't no need to box him. But I got to box and spar with Jeremy later and you know I got alot better with my boxing. I feel like I do alot better then Jeremy boxing and alot better then most do boxing in MMA and if I wasn't fighting MMA I think by now I would be fighting pro boxing, regardless of whether I would be making a good living or not.
thaFormula.com - The first time I saw you fight was when you fought lions Den fighter Joe Hurley at WEC 6. Do you think that victory was the fight that really put you on the radar seeing that Hurley was a big favorite and an up and coming fighter?
Nick Diaz - Well you know it was a big show and people I'm sure wanted to see Frank Shamrock, so yeah probably because it had a few stars there and I won a belt that day. So yeah it was a really good show for me. Joe Hurley is a really underrated fighter by the way. My brother fought him too and this guy just cant catch a break. The Lions Den just kind of fell behind after a while and they didn't come from a strong background and that's what happens. This is a team sport believe it or not and these guys I'm sure really didn't care about each other and they didn't have a strong team. At one point in time this Lions Den was good but then they would move it to San Diego and here and there and see that doesn't really work out like that. Then their is Joe Hurley, who is a good fighter. He deserves to fight somewhere like Pride for instance. When I started fighting, I went to go watch Joe Hurley fight, Joe Hurley knocked some guy out and everybody is screaming, "Hurley, Hurley, Hurley." This guy is crazy you know. Big pale eyed, pale faced bigheaded dude with this Shamrock tattoo on the side of his arm and I was like 18 at the time and this guy was seriously like a scary fighter. I didn't know I was gonna end up fighting him a year later. If someone had told me I would have probably been shitting bricks. As far as I knew he was unstoppable, and then now he just falls off because the sport grows real quick and no one is helping this guy out. If he trained with us, this guy would be huge.
thaFormula.com - Yeah, I remember no one gave you a chance against him?
Nick Diaz - Yeah absolutely. They were shocked probably that I even won. Every time I beat somebody everybody is shocked that I won. I don't understand it. Every single time I fight everybody around is shocked. I'm like what the fuck do you think? Everytime I always come out with a consistent same type of performance, everytime! I'm the most consistent motherfucker around here and they are trying to suspend me right now for some bullshit! I don't wanna be suspended, I really don't wanna be suspended. I wanna fight in 3 months like I always do. That's the thing too, I have fought every fight every 3 months ever since the first time I fought. I never had no half a year break. Every other fighter has taken a year off or a half year break. No one has been as consistent as me. I know I am probably the most featured fighter from UFC 44 through 62 considering that they dropped the lightweight division for half that time and the heavier guys weren't as consistent and they don't expect to see me whoop somebody's ass everytime. They don't wanna see me fight for the title and nobody wants to talk about me fighting for a title and they all doubt me. I'm like what if I just knock somebody out, what if one of those guys don't match up well against me and they take an ass whoppin'! I know George don't wanna see me and I know ol' Matt don't wanna see me. The other guys gave me a hard time that I fought, these younger guys, but those other guys especially don't wanna fight a guy like me. I'm the worse guy to fight. They don't wanna fight some guy that is gonna throw hooks to the head on them and they got to watch out for serious knees coming, and they are not gonna be able to hold down and manipulate. They might win but that's gonna be a whole fight, a very discouraging night and a ass whoopin' win or lose, an ass whoopin! If it were Pride I would win for sure cause its not a game over there. You can actually fight in Pride. Your not actually concerned about the scoring. and like I said, nobody comes from a big background, so these guys will fall off and their steroids you know uh, they are gonna burn out and that only leaves the MMA world with a handful of us. Then when they run out of chumps for George to fight, they are gonna need to call me up. They are gonna need somebody to call up for a title fight and they should just go ahead and give me a call, cause I'm right here ready to go. Because when they run out of chumps, I'm gonna be right here in good shape. I say the sooner the better for them because the longer they wait, the more Imma be in shape and the harder and better Imma be going. Because the way I feel right now, I feel like there is no stopping me right now. They are talking about the cut on my eye or whatever, my eye is not even messed up. I was sparring yesterday you know what I mean, because Imma whoop somebody's ass next fight.
thaFormula.com - Now let's get into your match with Robbie Lawler. Was that a match you were told you would receive if you won in the UFC or was that a short notice type match. Break that match down?
Nick Diaz - I was in Japan and I was cornering Jake Shields. I think I had just fought and I was still training a little bit. They called me and they told me while I was in Japan that I was fighting Robbie Lawler and I just wanted to go home and start training right away, but I didn't expect them to call me for a serious fight like that. I knew they might bring me back though. So I started training boxing immediately for that fight and I was really confident for the fight. I was ready to have that fight. See cause I remember watching Robbie Lawler fight and sitting at home and going, I really wanna fight this guy cause people are looking at me whenever Lawler was on TV, like oh that guy will whoop your ass. So that right away made me want to fight this guy because I know I got better boxing skills then this guy, and I know I'm gonna have better Jiu Jitsu skills then this guy cause I'm training Gracie Jiu Jitsu, and I have a good Jiu Jitsu coach, and you know good training partners in Jiu Jitsu. So automatically I wanted to fight Robbie Lawler. I was just totally pumped for that fight and it was a huge fight for me.
thaFormula.com - I remember so many people thought he was way too much for you and that you were gonna get knocked out by Lawler?
Nick Diaz - You see this is really cool that we get to talk about this, because that's the thing about the way they promoted him. It's so huge the way they promoted this guy. It wasn't so much that he was overrated, it was that he was over promoted and alot of times this Militech team can be over promoted I think little bit, but actually not so much even that. He was really huge at the time and everybody's favorite fighter for a minute you know. He knocked everybody out so he was huge. So I was like here is my chance if I knock this guy out.
thaFormula.com - During your training for the fight, did you think that you would knock him out sometime during the fight?
Nick Diaz - I thought that I would be able to win the fight as long as I didn't get cut, and if we ended up on the ground, I knew I was gonna put the arm bar triangle all the way on him and he's gonna try and pull me back up and I'm gonna throw more punches at him. I also felt that he wasn't gonna be able to be in as good as shape as me and he wasn't gonna be as sharp as me and Imma have reach on him. Also, I was sparring a southpaw that was ranked 5th in the world you understand! "Smooth" Rodney Jones just had a world title fight recently with Cory Spinks. He had a tough fight and lost a decision . So I had this really, really seriously good boxing training and I was doing a really good job sparring boxing with this world ranked boxing partner, and I knew that Robbie Lawler wasn't gonna do 3 rounds with this guy. So this is what gave me alot of confidence going into this fight. I knew he was gonna box with me, so it wasn't gonna be like he was gonna take me down and hold me like the other guys that I fought knew to do after watching me fight. And then the thing I wanna talk about also, is how over promoted he was and how he was like the poster boy. Then I beat him, but then like they don't promote me like that! It wasn't like that now. See what they did was, they automatically were like, "man we fucked up", and they were pissed off or something, and now they got like Karo Parisyan and their like alright well then we will go with Judo. Their like, we know how to get rid of this kid quick, we will put this judo on him. I said, why can't you give me 5 fucking scrubs like you did Robbie Lawler and let me knock them all out, cause I'll fucking knock every fucking muthafucker out! or just put me with Matt Hughes cause I will knock that muthafucka out right now! Cause I was really ready to fight Matt Hughes at that time, really fucking ready to fight Hughes. But I just kept my mouth shut like a good kid, like I was supposed to keep my mouth shut and not talk trash. See cause I don't have alot of trash to talk dude, I'll let my fighting do the talking, but sometimes I'm just like I need to get a reaction out of some fucking people or something cause this is fucking ridiculous!
thaFormula.com - Now so many people judge you by all the shit that you talk sometimes. Does alot of that got to do with the frustrations you go through behind the scenes?
Nick Diaz - Yeah, honestly most of it is frustration and I know it's me against the fucking world and its always been that way. Its all odds against me, trust me. I already know that though. I already know that I am going in all odds against me. You don't understand how I felt when I started this thing, like I had no chance. I didn't realize I was gonna be doing halfway decent and I feel like I'm doing pretty damn decent, but regardless I'm against all odds in this. That's just how I take it, how I look at it and that's just how I train, like I still don't have a chance to win. Because the only way to win is if your not afraid to lose and I ain't afraid to lose. I ain't afraid to fight none of these muthafuckas, especially the way it looks out there with these muthafuckas.
thaFormula.com - Was there ever talk about a Lawler rematch and was that something that Lawler wanted?
Nick Diaz - I don't think so. Robbie Lawler looks like he's doing a good job right about now anyways and he's fighting at a higher weight and I never heard anything about that, but fuck that! I don't even wanna hear about that because we don't even talk about me rematching muthafuckas that I beat! What about Karo Parisyan, this muthafucka does not wanna fight me again dude.
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