JERSEY CITY, N.J. – Nick Diaz is making an MMA comeback against Vicente Luque, but apparently that wasn’t the original plan.
According to Kevin Holland, who returns to this Saturday at UFC 302 against Michal Oleksiejczuk, the promotion offered him to fight Diaz. However, despite Diaz being a massive name, Holland (25-11 MMA, 12-8 UFC) had to turn it down.
“I was supposed to take a fight at 170 against a pretty big-name opponent, but they said he wasn’t going to be able to fight until August and I said, ‘Damn, that’s a long time.’ And they’re like, ‘Bro, it’s only an extra month.’ And I was like, ‘Nah, that’s too long,'” Holland told MMA Junkie and other reporters at UFC 302 media day on Wednesday. “So I got this, and I’m happy with it. I guess that (other) fight is not going to circle back because I see he just got booked, so let’s see what happens after.”
Apart from the proposed Diaz fight date, which is Aug. 3, Holland (25-11 MMA, 12-8 UFC) wanted no part in flying over to Abu Dhabi, where Diaz’s fight with Luque is taking place.
“Oh yeah, it was in Abu Dhabi,” Holland said. “No, no, I’m not going to Abu Dhabi.”
Holland wasn’t surprised to get offered Diaz, who has fought only once in the last nine years. He knew the former Strikeforce champion would make an eventual comeback and was confident in a potential matchup.
“I knew he was going to come back to fight, so I just thought I was going to smoke him, and then I was going to smoke Luque, too,” Holland said. “Those two are fighting each other, so they can smoke each other. Two big ass joints.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 302.
