In a situation likely to surprise few, UFC 183 headliner Nick Diaz went missing in action for a while this week.
The Stockton native was slated to get on a plane to head to Las Vegas for today’s open workouts, but missed his flight. UFC Embedded cameras were at the airport, which showed a vacant airport with no Diaz in sight. His planned main event bout with Anderson Silva is now in question.
Due to the flight being missed, Diaz missed today’s open workouts. UFC Vice President of Public Relations Dave Sholler said the company is still confident the fight will happen.
“We had staff that saw him yesterday in the airport and he elected to not get on the flight,” Sholler said Wednesday. “His bags did arrive. Again, I can’t speak to why Nick decided not to get on the flight, but we’re moving on as if the fight is happening Saturday. We’re very confident he’s going to be here today.”
Diaz’s manager Lloyd Pierson told MMA Fighting earlier on Wednesday the UFC knew where Nick Diaz was, and that he’d be at open workouts. He said the UFC was spinning the situation to make Diaz look bad. Diaz ended up missing two flights scheduled by the company.
UFC President Dana White placed blame on himself while on The Jim Rome Show:
“I did it to myself again. I made a fight with Nick Diaz, a big main event fight. You know, when you get him in the office and you sit down, and he’s like, ‘Well, you know, I feel like I haven’t been paid right. Pay me right.’ He’s being paid right for this fight. It doesn’t matter how much you pay him, he’s not going to. I did it to myself, so I can’t sit here and cry about Nick Diaz. It’s Nick being Nick,” White said.
White later had a lighthearted approach to the situation, posting a milk carton with a picture of Diaz on the side with the caption #WhereIsNateDiaz
