Daniel Cormier would rather see Nick Diaz and Tony Ferguson fight each other at UFC on ABC 7 rather than the separate matchups they booked.
Instead, Diaz (26-10 MMA, 7-7 UFC) will take on Vicente Luque (22-10-1 MMA, 15-6 UFC) on the Aug. 3 card in Abu Dhabi, while Ferguson (25-10 MMA, 15-8 UFC) meets Michael Chiesa (16-7 MMA, 11-7 UFC) also at welterweight.
So with both Diaz and Ferguson competing in the same event, Cormier thinks they should have been matched up against each other. He sees both fighters in similar phases of their careers, and worries about Diaz returning against Luque – especially after seeing how he looked in his TKO loss to Robbie Lawler in September 2021.
“I was very shocked,” Cormier told ESPN. “After watching Nick Diaz the last time, I was like, ‘OK, he’s done.’ But when I heard the news, I’m excited. I got so excited because it’s like, how often do we get an opportunity to see a guy that meant so much to us? I watched him in Strikeforce, I watched him do all that. Now, the matchup, that’s a little worrisome for me because Robbie Lawler seemed to be at the same stage in his career as him.
“Vicente Luque is not there. This is a much more dangerous fight for Nick Diaz. I just hope that he shows a better form this time. Honestly, man, excitement because I get to see a guy that I’ve watched for a long time. Confusion in terms of who the matchup is. Tony Ferguson’s fighting on the card, too. Put them together. That makes more sense to me.”
Regardless of his concerns toward 40-year-old Diaz, Cormier hopes the Stockton star has one more solid performance in him after almost four years away.
“I’m not making comparisons, but I do recognize that a great champion always has one last night,” Cormier said. “I watched George Foreman at 47 years old beat Michael Moorer in a fight that he wasn’t even supposed to be able to compete in, and he got it done. He was a little old, he was a little out of shape, knocked him out. Got beat on, his toughness carried him.
“Every great champion has one night left. So, for me, it’s about seeing if Nick has one more night. He might not, and hey, give him the benefit of the doubt. If he goes out and looks like he did last time, let’s be done with the Nick Diaz experiment. Shoot, man. This dude has earned an opportunity to go out there one more time and see if he can do something special.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ABC 7.
