Nick Diaz

Nickolas Robert Diaz (born August 2, 1983) is a retired American professional mixed martial artist who competed in the middleweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).

Diaz is a former Strikeforce, WEC and IFC welterweight champion and a UFC title challenger.

He also notably competed in PRIDE, EliteXC, DREAM, and Shooto.

Nick is the older brother of former UFC fighter Nate Diaz, with the pair of brothers being one of the biggest influences in the sport of MMA.

Diaz was born and raised in Stockton, California.

He is of Mexican and Anglo heritage.

Nick has a younger brother, Nate and a younger sister Nina who were mostly raised by their mother Melissa as their father was not around much.

Diaz began training in karate and aikido from a young age and also participated in wrestling tournaments during his teenage years.

Diaz attended Tokay High School in Lodi, California, for a year before dropping out.

While a freshman, he was a member of the swim team.

He started training in sambo at the age of 16 under Bulgarian National Sambo Champion Valeri Ignatov.

Around the same time, after seeing Renzo Gracie in the Pride Fighting Championships, he started training mixed martial arts under Steve Heath at the Animal House gym before joining Cesar Gracie's team.

Diaz became a professional mixed martial arts fighter in 2001 just after his 18th birthday and won his first fight, submitting Mike Wick with a triangle choke at IFC Warriors Challenge 15.

Diaz became a champion in his second professional fight, defeating Chris Lytle for the IFC Welterweight Championship in July 2002 at IFC Warriors Challenge 17.

Diaz was then invited to participate in Ultimate Athlete's King of the Mountain, a single-night tournament that took place two months later.

He won his first two fights but eventually lost in the finals to Jeremy Jackson by TKO.

Diaz fought in Warriors Quest and Shooto against Harris "Hitman" Sarmiento and Kuniyoshi Hironaka respectively before defending his IFC Welterweight Championship and winning the WEC Welterweight Championship in 2003 at WEC 6, submitting Joe Hurley with a kimura.

Diaz returned to defend his IFC Welterweight Championship against the man who defeated him one year earlier, Jeremy Jackson at IFC Warriors Challenge 18.

This bout was for Diaz's IFC United States Welterweight Championship, Jackson's IFC Americas Welterweight Championship and the vacant ISKA-MMA Americas Welterweight Championship.

Diaz won the rematch via TKO in the first round.

Taking notice of his success, the UFC signed Diaz over the summer and he made his debut at UFC 44, completing the trilogy against Jackson and submitting him with an armbar in the last round of a back-and-forth fight that Diaz appeared to be winning on the scorecards.

Diaz returned to the Octagon at UFC 47, set to take on future EliteXC Middleweight Champion Robbie Lawler.

Lawler was a heavy favorite coming into the fight but it was Diaz who took the offensive, chasing Lawler around the cage for the majority of the bout.

In the second round, Diaz taunted Lawler, who swung wildly and missed, allowing Diaz to connect with a right hook that knocked Lawler out.

Diaz was then matched up with judoka Karo Parisyan at UFC 49, but ended up losing a hard-fought split decision.

He rebounded with wins over submission specialist Drew Fickett at UFC 51 and Koji Oishi at UFC 53 before losing for the second time in the UFC at the hands of The Ultimate Fighter Middleweight winner Diego Sanchez at The Ultimate Fighter 2 Finale.

Diaz was confident coming into the bout but was unable to achieve success in the match, ultimately losing to Sanchez by unanimous decision.

During the televised post-fight interview in the octagon, Diaz continued the controversy by declaring that he respected Sanchez fighting ability but did not think he deserved to be there, despite Sanchez's win.

Diaz's next fight was against Joe Riggs at UFC 57.

Similar to his treatment of Sanchez, Diaz made sure that he taunted his opponent plenty before their fight starting at the official press conference at the event in which Diaz confronted Riggs and the two exchanged words.

They continued their conversation at the official weigh-ins in which both fighters had to be separated by UFC president Dana White and other officials present.

Riggs prevailed in a hard-fought battle, winning by unanimous decision and giving Diaz his second straight loss.

After the fight, the two were taken to the hospital for observation and post-fight tests, where they had yet another scuffle.

Diaz lost his third consecutive match in a unanimous decision to future UFC Lightweight Champion Sean Sherk at UFC 59.

Diaz returned to his hometown of Stockton and participated in the International Cage Fighting Organization's inaugural event, defeating Ray Steinbeiss by unanimous decision.

Diaz was slated to fight in his hometown again against Canadian John Alessio when he received an unexpected call the night before the fight from the UFC asking to fill in for an ill Thiago Alves at UFC 62.

He was promoted to black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu by Cesar Gracie on May 8, 2007.

Prior to his debut professional mixed martial arts fight, Diaz's girlfriend, Stephanie died by suicide by walking in front of traffic.

After her death, Diaz would run to his girlfriend's grave every day to tell her he would become the fighter she always wanted him to be.

Prior to his official professional debut, Diaz engaged in unsanctioned bare knuckle MMA matches.