Nick Diaz Sounds Off...

On his attitude towards the sport and his opponents:

Before we get started, I want to say that I know there are a lot of people and everybody is trying to protect the sport. And everybody wants to be sportsmen and that type of thing where everybody shakes hands and everybody is great friends and whatever. And that’s great. But you know what, this sport is (expletive) established. That’s obvious. There are people out there doing a great job making it look like a non-violent sport. That’s not my job. My job is warfare. I’m over here to (expletive) kill. We’re mortal enemies until we fight and then we can shake hands and be cool.  But until then, if I’m signed to fight you I don’t (expletive) like you and I hate you’re (expletive) guts and we’re fighting until we’re cool. We’re not cool until I win or I lose and we can settle this. So that’s how I am about this sort of thing.

On why he was in the cage and his feelings towards KJ Noons:

T.J. Thompson from Icon Sport. He brought me in there. He told me, ‘It’s time to go to work. Let’s go in there and talk about this rematch.’ So he brought me in there.

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They came in there with me and the next thing you know his dad starts talking (expletive) to my brother (Nate) or whatever. And, you know, my brother is hardcore. So he comes in there and someone says (expletive) you or whatever and his boy (Noons) is acting all bad like he wants to fight me. I’m like, ‘Why you trying to act bad now?’ They walked past us in the halls and they all looked at the floor. They walked past us like they are scared or something, you know what I mean. It’s like that we’re going to fight, but if they are going to talk (expletive), we’re going to talk (expletive). I ain’t going nowhere and they ain’t going nowhere.

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That’s (expletive) … my bottom line is he is a poser. He’s over here trying to rush me in front of the cameras and look like hardcore in front of the cameras. He shows up in a (expletive) suit. He’s a rich kid. I can’t afford a suit. I got no money to spend on a suit. I can’t retire right now if I want to. he fights every however many months.

More quotes after the jump.

On the first fight with Noons:

That’s what I’m saying. That’s what I was getting ready to say. I’m not no chump. I ain’t no (expletive) punk. That’s not really his belt. That doctor stopped that fight on that cut. My brother had a bigger cut in his last fight and he still won. I’ve had (expletive) cuts bigger than that. This (expletive) doctor just stepped in on my whole situation.

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“He needs to finish me off if that’s his belt. He needs to go ahead and finish me off and get this all over said and done with. Either I’m going to whup his (butt) or he is going to whup my (butt) and we can be cool. You understand what I’m saying? It’s unfinished business.

And on why he dislikes the cage:

There should be a ring here in the U.S., a huge show, there should be a ring. It’s not done in Japan. A cage is not even done in Japan. It’s unheard of. It’s ridiculous. It’s so stupid that we are entertained by a cage and that they have to use a cage to get our attention to be entertained by this fighting and not understand the technical aspects of mixed martial arts. You need a cage to get your attention first, so it looks like something crazy. I know when I started the scariest (expletive) sounds they made was, ‘Oh, you are a cagefighter, Ooh.’

"And nobody can (expletive) see anything because of the damn cage. It’s an insult to all you people out there. It’s an insult that people fight in a cage. You can’t see through it. If you want to see, you can’t see the technical things that are happening or anything that’s going on in there. The fighters aren’t using the ring to cut the guy off and boxing. The whole boxing part, the kickboxing part, is out the window or half it is anyways with the ring situation. You can’t put your foot back under the rope.

"The (expletive) cage is … They say a cage doesn’t require a re-start. You’re talking about a areal sport and they want to say it’s non-violent, put it in the cage. These people are not animals. They can (expletive) pause for a second and move it back to the center of the ring. It’s a sportsman type of situation. That’s why it’s funny that people are always trying to say it’s too violent, it’s in a cage. Well. get rid of the cage and, maybe, it’s not so violent.

HT: Orange County Register's MMA and Boxing blog