Jake Shields Revisited Nick Diaz’s Grueling Lawler Comeback
Jake Shields questioned Nick Diaz’s preparation for his Robbie Lawler rematch in comments reported in July 2024. Shields claimed his longtime teammate had gone years without training before returning at UFC 266 on September 25, 2021.
Shields’s account of the preparation
Speaking on the JAXXON Podcast, Shields said he had worried Diaz would struggle and believed the fight should not have happened. He also suggested Diaz had felt pressure to compete, while praising the effort he showed once the contest began.
Those remarks described Shields’s perspective on the training situation. He said Diaz was training again by the time of the interview, although he did not claim to know exactly how hard his teammate was working.
A rivalry renewed after seventeen years
Diaz had knocked out Lawler at UFC 47 on April 2, 2004. Their first encounter ended at 1:31 of the second round in Las Vegas, long before either man’s later championship achievements.
The 2021 rematch reversed that result. After two busy rounds, Lawler dropped Diaz early in the third. Diaz remained down and indicated he could not continue, and referee Jason Herzog stopped the bout at forty-four seconds.
The official outcome was a third-round stoppage victory for Lawler. Shields’s later comments added a teammate’s account of the preparation to a rivalry whose two completed contests produced one victory for each fighter.
Sources
- MMA Mania: Shields’s JAXXON Podcast comments
- UFC: dates, methods and finish times for both Lawler contests
- MMA Fighting: the UFC 266 stoppage sequence
