Rafael dos Anjos eyeing Nick Diaz fight

Former UFC lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos recently announced his move to the welterweight division in the midst of a 2-fight skid at lightweight which saw him lose the lightweight title to Eddie Alvarez in the summer of 2016 before then dropping a unanimous decision to Tony Ferguson in a fight which likely could have fast-tracked him to a rematch for the UFC lightweight title.

Following his second straight loss, Dos Anjos revealed that he would be making the jump from 155 to 170 due to the fact that making the cut to 155 was no longer worth it financially after he lost his title.

Now, in a new interview with Combate, Dos Anjos revealed that he’s looking for a fight with MMA veteran Nick Diaz, who has been absent from the Octagon since his early 2015 scrap with Anderson Silva, which was overturned to a ‘no contest’ after Diaz failed a fight night drug test for marijuana, and Silva failed for banned substances.

“I’ve been talking about this. I’ve been thinking Nick Diaz would be a good fight. I have some history with his brother and he’s just there, not fighting. But I don’t know if he wants to fight now.

“People ask me if I really want to start against those guys. I came to this weight class to do fights that matter, not fighters who would only serve as a way up the ladder for me. I’ve been training a lot of boxing. Everybody trains jiu-jitsu and muay thai, but they forget the basic principles of boxing and that makes a difference.”

Diaz recently found himself called out by Anderson Silva as well, and with no shortage of willing opponents for the Stockton scrapper, he could very well be stepping into the Octagon for a big fight sometime soon.

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 3/15/2017.