Nick Diaz has ‘travel issues’, fight against Vicente Luque ppd.

Nick Diaz’s return to the Octagon has been postponed.

Due to what the promotion is calling “travel issues” for Diaz, his Aug. 3 bout against Vicente Luque in the UFC on ABC 7 co-main event has been postponed.

The news was announced during Saturday’s broadcast of UFC Vegas 94. The hope is that the bout will be rebooked for a date this fall, but only time will tell.

When the fight was announced in late May, I was surprised that Diaz agreed to fight in Abu Dhabi.

The 40-year-old Diaz has not fought overseas since his May 2010 victory over Hayato Sakurai at Dream 14 in Japan. Frustration with the travel (and with talking to the media in general) caused him to miss a press conference at UFC 137 in Toronto in 2011, ahead of a welterweight title bout against Georges St. Pierre.

As a result, Dana White pulled him from the main event and replaced him with Carlos Condit. However, when GSP injured his knee and was forced to pull out of the match against Condit, Diaz was replaced by BJ Penn in the main event of the show.

Diaz defeated Penn via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-27, 29-28) in Fight of the Night. Unfortunately for Diaz, he has not tasted victory since that victory on October 29, 2011.

That said, he has only competed four times since then. Diaz lost a UD to Condit at UFC 143 and lost another UD to St. Pierre at UFC 158. Before taking on GSP, he skipped open workouts during Fight Week, explaining how the timing didn’t work out due to the inconveniences of his flight to Montreal.

What I mean? The Stockton, CA, resident doesn’t like to travel, especially long distances.

After losing to St. Pierre, Diaz moved up to middleweight and fought Anderson Silva, the former 185-pound champion who was recovering from a nasty leg injury.

The bout went in Silva’s favor, but the result was overturned to a no-contest after “The Spider” consumed two performance-enhancing drugs. Diaz tested positive for elevated marijuana metabolites and the Nevada Athletic Commission suspended him for five years in the most insane and vindictive ruling in the organization’s history.

After Diaz appealed the ridiculous ruling, the suspension was reduced to just 18 months. It didn’t matter.

Diaz was done with the fight game indefinitely. He decided to make his long-awaited comeback in 2021, agreeing to a rematch with Robbie Lawler at UFC 266. Lawler won the bout via TKO in the third round.

It’s natural to wonder if Diaz and Luque will ever happen. In fact, it’s more than fair to wonder if we’ll ever see Diaz, who turns 41 in a few weeks, grace the Octagon again.

If he is in good shape, healthy and really ready to fight, then all fans of mixed martial arts hope that this will happen.