By Jeff Chiu, AP
Whatever else can be said of Nick Diaz, don't accuse him of lacking dedication to his craft."I have a whole week of training," Diaz says. "I don't have any time as it is. … I try to get things as convenient as I can, but it's even more convenient if I don't have to worry about money or sponsors, stuff like that. So I don't."
Diaz's single-minded purpose has carried him into the elite of mixed martial arts' 170-pound ranks. Last year saw him knock out Dream champion Marius Zaromskis to capture the vacant Strikeforce title; submit Japanese legend Hayato "Mach" Sakurai; and avenge his last defeat by outboxing stand-up specialist K.J. Noons.
The title win nearly a year ago vaulted Diaz into the top 10 of the USA TODAY/SB Nation consensus rankings for welterweights. In two weeks he'll attempt his second title defense when he faces Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos on Jan. 29 in San Jose.
USA TODAY spoke to Diaz on Thursday about the upcoming bout, his brother Nate's recent loss to Dong Hyun Kim and the high cost of food. Excerpts from the conversation:
Q: What was your reaction when you found out you'd be fighting Cyborg?
Diaz: (They) only have so many people, so I wasn't too surprised.
He's only fought a couple of times at welterweight. You think he deserves a title shot so soon?
Sure. If anybody does, he does.
What did you think of his fight against Zaromskis?
Thought it was good. I thought he did the right thing. Zaromskis was running in there jumping up; I think that gets him in trouble.
Given that Cyborg was a middleweight until recently, any concerns about his power?
I think he should do better at this weight that he's fighting at now. I think it's a good move for him to come and fight at this weight. It makes more sense.
How much do you have to change your approach going from K.J. Noons to Cyborg?
Well, I change a little bit, but everything's for the better.
My thing now is just trying to find good training. A lot of fighters just fought. Daniel Roberts just fought (and) my brother just fought, so they're out. I don't have them for training, so I've had to work around that and find different training partners other than them. Jake Shields is a good training partner for me, so I train a lot with him right now, while I can.
Basically trying to get into the best shape that I can. I should be in pretty good shape versus the last fight. I've been going good. I've been training hard.
Once I got home from that fight (against Noons), I got back in the gym and started training good. I took a week easy trying to help my brother for his fight, and going with him real quick. But I think it was a good idea to have a good recovery week.
Now, pretty much I'm just picking back up. I'm ready to fight. I'm in great shape.
What do you think your brother could have done differently against Kim at UFC 125?
I think he made a lot of mistakes. I don't think he was very focused.
We talked about him (Nate) throwing the front kick like he does. Overaggressive, he comes straight in. He threw that front kick right at the beginning of the fight, got him taken down, got him off to a bad start.
I think there's a few things in that fight that could have made all the difference.
I felt like he should have learned from a lot of my mistakes. But I think a lot of it had to do with him coming in not focused. … We talked in the gym about that.
But he (Nate) is a lot better than that guy (Kim). You could see it in that fight. He (Nate) won on damage. At the end of that fight, that guy was real banged up, you know? Taking some hard shots to the eye, to the face. My brother hadn't taken any shots.
When you say he should have learned from your mistakes, what do you mean?
I used to come in running in a lot, and getting overly aggressive. You get that way, because you (get caught up in trying to) win on damage. You're fighting a different fight. One guy's trying to win the round, one guy's trying to win the fight.
That's why I like dealing with Pride rules. I thought that there would be an organization that has that type of scoring criteria. I thought that show would stick around; I'd probably be fighting for them right now.
But that whole thing went under. They kind of want to do away with that whole way of fighting, even though it's been around for a long time.
The restarts and the old Pride rules, it's better.
The yellow card (if) you stall. You can't stall. You have to fight.
You can't elbow. You have to punch. It takes a lot of space. A guy on the bottom wants to get up, he gets up because you're making space to punch. It makes for a more technical aspect to come out. It makes for more transition and movement to happen. It's more exciting to watch and it makes for the better fighter to win.
The way that things are going now, you don't (always) see the better fighter win. They play a game to win.
That's what my brother needs to do, is play a game to win. Just like I should have done, is play a game to win. But it's hard to do that. That's what you saw there.
How do you stay focused so that you do play the game?
You make a gameplan. That's where the gameplan thing comes in.
I don't like to gameplan. I think it causes problems. I think that's why people get knocked out a lot. They're trying to stick to the gameplan while in the middle of their fight. They're taking punches and they're sticking to their gameplan; they can't change what they're doing.
You've got to be smart with what you're doing and making a gameplan.
How do you strike the right balance?
It's experience. It depends on who you're fighting.
If everything goes to plan, they you don't have any problems. But that's why you've got to train a lot, because if things don't go as planned, you're ready for anything.
You recently re-signed with Strikeforce for a long-term deal. What do you like about fighting for them as opposed to, say, UFC?
I don't know. I think they take care of me well and I get paid well.
That's just what I'm doing right now. I have a manager. I don't really concentrate on that. I don't care where I'm at right now. I fight and train hard, and focus on that, and I let my team decide where I'm going to go and what I'm going to do.
Seems like past Cyborg and maybe Tyron Woodley, there aren't too many guys at 170 for you to fight in Strikeforce.
What do you think they need to do to remedy that?
I agree. I agree.
I don't know. I can't really say too much about that. … I think the people are going to have to make that happen. If they want to see that happen, I'm sure it'll happen. They've got to make that happen eventually if they want it to happen, otherwise it's not going to happen.
I saw an interview recently where you said you spend all your money on food. Is that true, or were you kidding?
I spend a lot of money on food. That's not a joke. I'm not kidding about that.
I may be a little overexaggerative when I say I spend all my money, but I spend a lot of money, a ridiculous amount of money on food.
I only eat certain food and it costs a lot of money. Supplements cost a lot. That's the only thing that I'm basically spending all this money on. That and gas. And rental car. And whatever happens if I end up going to fight somewhere. That costs a lot of money.
You ever think about maybe trying to get an organic food sponsor?
That'd be nice, but I don't have time to do that. I'm not trying to stress out over that. I have a whole week of training. I don't have any time as it is, but if I do have some time -- which I don't -- usually I don't even know what to do with it nowadays.
But for the most part, I don't have any time. I don't have time for that, sponsorships, making appointments. I have a hard enough time making it to physical therapy and stuff like that. Anything extra, if you will, that comes off training.
My issue is I've got a lot driving to do. I live in Stockton, but I train in Concord and the Bay Area, about an hour away. Or even Sacramento sometimes to train. I take an hour driving every day, so that takes a chunk out of my day too.
I try to get things as convenient as I can, but it's even more convenient if I don't have to worry about money or sponsors, stuff like that. So I don't.
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