Nick Diaz’s UFC Return Confirmed with New Date

Vintage UFC superstar Nick Diaz rebooks his next fight at UFC 310 against welterweight contender Vicente Luque.

Christopher De Santiago | Sep 25, 2024

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Welcome back to the UFC, Nick Diaz.

First Booking Cancelled Over The Summer

As fans might recall, we were supposed to see the Stockton MMA superstar in action earlier this year at UFC Abu Dhabi, but travel complications prevented that, ultimately pulling the plug on Diaz's return fight against ranked welterweight Vicente Luque (22-10-1).

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Unable to settle their business on Aug. 3, many questions were raised as to whether the welterweights would get rebooked for a later date or if the UFC would scrap the matchup between the 32-year-old contender Luque and the older Diaz brother, nine years his elder.

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Luque vs. Diaz Rescheduled For UFC 310

It looks like the UFC is deadset on making this fight happen as MMA Mania's Alex Behunin reports that Luque vs. Diaz is currently in the works for UFC 310 on Dec. 7 in Las Vegas, Nevada - the promotion's final pay-per-view event of the year.

This will mark Diaz's second fight in almost a decade. The last we saw of Diaz (26-10), the former Strikeforce Champion had entered a long-awaited rematch with Robbie Lawler at UFC 266 in Sep. 2021, one which he lost by TKO (retirement) in the third round.

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Before that, Diaz hadn't fought since a no-contest result against former UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva in the main event of UFC 183 back in Jan. 2015, later suspended by the Nevada State Athletic Commission for a positive drug test containing marijuana metabolites.

"The Silent Assassin" Luque has seen better days in his UFC career, losing three out of his last four fights, starting with a defeat to current champ Belal Muhammad in 2022. Luque was on the verge of a title shot back then but now he's on the outskirts of the welterweight rankings at #14 after a TKO loss to rising contender Joaquin Buckley in his last outing in March.