Nick Diaz landed perfect punch to faceplant KO Robbie Lawler 17 years before emotional rematch

Nick Diaz faceplant KO’d Robbie Lawler 17 years before disappointing rematch

Even though the popular welterweight never experienced a title win in the UFC, he was involved in some of the biggest fights in the promotion’s history and scored some big wins.

One of which was when he and Robbie Lawler met at UFC 47 on April 2, 2004. Five fights into his UFC career, Lawler has showcased himself as an extremely promising prospect in the sport having gone 4-1.

He was then matched up with Diaz, who had only fought once previously under the UFC banner, beating Jeremy Jackson.

Diaz came out immediately looking to put the pace on Lawler and get him fighting off his back foot. Just 40 seconds into the fight, the Stockton native dropped ‘Ruthless’ with a quick check hook.

However, it was in round two when Diaz scored a brutal faceplant KO after landing a vicious right hook right on the chin of Lawler.

That wasn’t the last time the two would meet in the UFC Octagon, though, as 17 years later at UFC 266, the two fought in a controversial rematch.

It marked Diaz’s first fight in over 16 years and he was coming into his return out of shape, which led to concerns from the fanbase.

Lawler went on to score the finish in round three, leading to calls for Diaz to officially retire.

Fans provided with positive update on Nick Diaz

Although it seemed more than likely that Diaz would retire following his loss to Lawler, he did in fact book to fight Vicente Luque at UFC 310 but withdrew due to health concerns.

Not long after, concerning videos of Diaz began to emerge online of him seemingly setting fire to the grass whilst sat on the side of the road.

Despite that, his teammate recently provided a positive update on the health of Nick, which of course brought joy to the UFC fans.