A report from HDNet states that Nick Diaz‘s manager, Cesar Gracie has stated if Dana White does not offer Diaz a fight with Anderson Silva, the Strikeforce welterweight champ’s next fight will be a boxing match against Fernando Vargas.

In fact, according to Gracie, Diaz has already signed the contract to fight Vargas.* Diaz does have great boxing for MMA. How it would translate to the boxing ring remains to be seen. Vargas is a 26-5 light middleweight with 22 KO’s.

Diaz says he doesn’t see much of a future in MMA for himself, and Gracie reveals the news of the boxing contract in this video preview of Inside MMA which will appear in its entirety Friday night at 9 p.m. ET on HDNet.

*Editor’s note: Say what you will, but when Gracie mentions Diaz has signed the boxing contract he scratches his nose — I know this sounds whacky, but in psychology that means he’s not telling the whole truth. Just sayin.

UPDATE (9 p.m. CT): See — that nose scratch thing is a “tell” just like in poker. MMAJunkie has since released a report saying this fight with Vargas is not happening. Cesar Gracie commented:

“We were talking about Vargas, but the thing is, I just came under some information that Vargas apparently has some kind of medical issue where he’s not able to pass the test any more, and he could be retiring,” Gracie said. “Vargas was very interested, but unfortunately, if he can’t pass the test, he can’t pass the test.”

Pffft, how ya like that? Well, Diaz still wants to box, but instead of Vargas it looks like they have their eyes set on 33-year-old Jeff Lacy. Lacy is a super middleweight with a record of 30-4, 1 NC with 17 KO’s.

The Stockton brawler is in a very precarious position really. There is really no one left in Strikeforce’s 170-pound division that Diaz seems interested or motivated to fight.

The Inside MMA report said he wanted a fight with Anderson Silva, but Silva is tied up until at least August when he fights Yushin Okami in Brazil. Diaz’s teammate is fighting for the UFC welterweight title against Georges St-Pierre.

So where does this leave the Stockton brawler? Is boxing the best choice at this point or can Zuffa find their champion an opponent that motivates him?

8 thoughts on “Nick Diaz signs boxing contract to fight Fernando Vargas (updated)”
  1. Diaz by TKO. Diaz regularly competes, Fernando hasn’t for years. Vargas’s best weight was 154 and he was never that impressive above that.

    Nick Diaz will wreck him if this is true.

  2. lol..told you that jawn won’t happening…The thing is…there’s nobody left for Diaz to fight in SF…he says the top 5 guys don’t want to fight him…but basically…you can reverse that…he doesn’t want to fight them because he knows he’d get taken down like his last stint in the UFC..

    I’m not saying Diaz is scared or that he wouldn’t fight them…I think he knows those guys would take him down and he couldn’t do anything about it…even though his ground game is really good…odds of him submitting Kos, Fitch, and GSP are minimal at best IMO(although I could see him knocking Kos out if Kos stood with him).

  3. Yeah I knew there was something very fish about that Vargas stuff. That nose scratch don’t lie — I’m tellin ya.

  4. I like Diaz he is an exciting MMA fighter but he has no chance in a boxing ring with a world class fighter he almost got knocked out by Daley ! his skills are his submissions and he needs to quit crying about not making any money to his fans we do not pay him he made Almost $200,000 for this fight and he will get a good pay day 1 time in boxing then after he gets KTFO he will he will be back to fighting for thousands of $ instead of hundreds of thousands of $. If he wants to fight GSP he needs to get in line behind his friend Jake Shields and please don’t even think about Anderson Silva. again I like Diaz he is exciting to watch and he deserves a shot at GSP but the opportunity just came about a few weeks ago with the buy out so be patient !

  5. Joe- Just a few things:

    – Diaz is talking about fighting one world class boxer (Sergio Martinez which he probably won’t get), the others are washed up and are know where near world class level anymore.

    -The main options are Lacy and Mayorga now that Vargas has seemingly become ineligible: Lacy is well past his sell by date and was last seen losing a wide decision to Dhafir Smith (who is a career journeyman with a win-loss record of 25-19) frankly this would be the harder match for Diaz. Mayorga is a crude fighter who fights on power and the ability to take his opponents punches. His best wins are at 147 lbs and he has had minimal success at 154. This fight will most likely take place at 168 or 175 and most of the good things he brings to the table there will lose steam (power, chin, size advantage). The guys he is talking about fighting are not really world class anymore.

    – This probably won’t even happen, as it reaks of posturing for a better contract. Which Zuffa will most likely give him.

  6. When it comes to real fighters i prefer to watch the champions of the 1960s and 19070s. I dont mind watching the current champions but somethind is missing..

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