Q: I know you said you try to not let the things that happen outside of your training and preparing for a fight bother you, but do you have any regret at all because you didn’t get that title fight because you didn’t get on a plane?
Diaz: Well yeah, of course I have regret. I regret I have people who are supposed to take care of stuff. I have a lawyer or whatever, people get paid something like 100 grand — I don’t know — a ridiculous amount of money.
I’ve been doing the same, living the same since I was 17. I live down the street from my parents who I used to live in the same house with; now I live with my brother. I’ve got all these business people and big money people around me trying to make deals, and I don’t know anything about that. All I know is that somebody is getting paid over 100 grand just to tell me what I’m supposed to do and not supposed to do, and I’m thinking for that much money, I could have had somebody standing around telling me, “Hey, you can’t miss this press conference. That voids the whole contract, and then you’re out. You ain’t gettin’ [beep]. You ain’t fighting’ [beep]. You ain’t makin’ no money, so you have to be at this thing. It’s simple.
If I had read that thing over myself, I’d have been a little more cautious, and not been like, “Oh, I’ve got people getting paid to tell me you need to be here or there.” If I didn’t feel like I had that, I’d have probably read that shit myself, and dealt with things myself, and been a little more cautious, and I probably would have showed up at that press conference, but that’s not the case.
I’m in the gym training hard; I think that’s what’s important. I think we made a deal, and I think a deals a deal, you know what I mean? I don’t know anything about going back on that. That doesn’t even, that never came to mind. As far as I’m concerned, the people working for me that should have been there to tell me what’s what, and I didn’t have that like everybody else does.
Q: Are those people still working for you, Nick?
Diaz: Not by choice, if so. I don’t know. I just — it’s whatever. It’s not like I have all this time to go get into that part either — who’s working for me, who’s not working for me. I’ve been training. I had to deal with everybody telling me, “Oh, you’re fighting this guy, you’re fighting that guy. You’re fighting, you’re not fighting.” I’ve had to deal with all that through this whole thing.
Of course I’m going to have to deal with all that on top of hard training. It’s not easy.
Q: Do you think what happened today was one of those people didn’t tell you about the press conference today?
Diaz: When should I have known about this press conference?
Q: I’m just asking because I think it has been scheduled for a while now. I’m just wondering if it was your people who didn’t let you know?
Diaz: Well someone could have gave me a call, you know? I don’t know who’s talking to who about a press conference call. It was just like anything — I never heard about this shit until way late.
But you’ve gotta know I’m not sitting here waiting for a call; I’m waiting for some training. I’m training to get some relax time before I have to go back for another four hours of training. I’m training hard. I train harder than these guys. I fight harder than these guys, I look better than these guys, I do better than these guys, and that’s why — because I’ve been, you know, and I don’t get no help and I don’t worry about no help. That’s what takes up all my time — training, and trying to become the best in the world here. And that’s the best in the world, alright? That’s what you’re dealing with here. This is a whole world out there; ain’t nobody can beat me.
Q: Being that you’ve moved from Strikeforce, is there any side action there? If you lose, do you give BJ the belt or is that your’s to keep?
Diaz: You know what? I haven’t really thought about anything. I’m not trying to get all crazy. I need to get paid, so I’m going to show up, make weight, and then I’m going to fight. I don’t really think about all that.
If that’s what’s up — if you want to put that up — since you’re the one that’s bring that up, you want to start that whole thing, that’s on you and whoever wants to jump on your little bandwagon, and bring that out in the open. I don’t give a [beep]. I never put that belt on anyway; he can have that belt, it’s not important.