Gilbert Melendez knows Nick Diaz as well as anyone, and he’s confident Diaz will fight again if he puts his mind to it.
The 42-year-old Diaz recently declared his intentions to be a world champion again following a drug rehab stint in Mexico. It’s been over four years since Diaz’s most recent fight, a loss to Robbie Lawler at UFC 266 in 2021, and that marked his first in-cage appearance since 2015. One has to go back even farther to find Diaz’s most recent win: A decision over fellow legend B.J. Penn in October 2011.
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Still, if Diaz is determined to compete at a high level once more, Melendez doesn’t put it past him.
“I really don’t know the whole story, but if there’s anyone that I think could ever bounce back and do anything like that against the norm or that defies science or something, it is Nick Diaz,” Melendez said in an interview with Demetrious Johnson. “He is this guy, who knows what he can do? Have a night of drinking, whatever, and he’ll go run 30 miles and he’ll outrun you. He has this mental toughness in his convictions like that. It’s just so powerful.”
Melendez and Diaz have long been training partners at Cesar Gracie Jiu-Jitsu in California, with the two forming the infamous “Skrap Pack” alongside Nick’s brother Nate Diaz and Jake Shields. Melendez, Nate, and Shields all emerged as stars in Strikeforce, capturing titles in their respective divisions before eventually joining the UFC when Zuffa LLC purchased the promotion.
The trio also challenged for titles in the UFC, though all three fell just short of achieving that end goal. Regardless, the group has remained close, and Melendez is just happy to see his friend back in the gym.
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“I love seeing Nick Diaz train,” Melendez said. “I think training is good for him. I love to see him doing all that stuff.”
As for his own retirement, Melendez – who last competed in 2019 – sympathizes with any fighter struggling to lay down the gloves for good. Melendez has carved out a space for himself as a fight analyst and a gym owner, but admits it wasn’t an easy transition.
“Maybe I wasn’t liked too much the first year at my house,” Melendez said. “I was a little edgy, a little bored, not too sure what I wanted to do, but I figured out what I wanted to do. I already had commentating, I had that already, because for me fighting wasn’t financial freedom at the end of the day. It really wasn’t. So I was already doing Fox while I was fighting, I was ready to transition. Hey, after I’m done, I have my gym, these are my revenue streams, so that was already in my mind.”