The Diaz Army can rejoice as their boy Nick Diaz is finally back inside the Octagon on August 3rd when he takes on “The Silent Assassin” Vicente Luque in a 5-round co-main event in Abu Dhabi, Dana White announces.

Fan-favorite Nick Diaz will finally make his return back to the Octagon after a three-year hiatus. His most recent fight was against Robbie Lawler at UFC 266 in a fight where Lawler finished him in round three. After yet another long layoff he gets to face off against Vicente Luque who's also having some rough times recently in his career.

Luque most recently was finished by Joaquin Buckley in his last co-main event fight in Atlantic City. His career took a major downswing when he had a scare when he was diagnosed with a brain bleed after his fight with Geoff Neal. He was able to battle back and get into shape but didn't look like the same fighter we'd seen before his fight with Neal.

This fight will be contested between two fighters who are out of their prime however, it will still be a competitive fight for the 5 rounds. Also, even though these two may not be where they once were they both have a loyal fanbase, especially for the former Strikeforce Champion Nick Diaz who people to this day get excited to watch fight regardless of what version of him they do get.

UFC Abu Dhabi is stacked!

That wasn't the only fight that Dana White announced for this FREE fight night event. This fight card is shaping up to be the most stacked fight night event of the year thus far.

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UFC Abu Dhabi Confirmed Fights

  • Cory Sandhagen vs. Umar Nurmagomedov – Main Event
  • Vicente Luque vs. Nick Diaz – 5-round Co-Main Event
  • Marlon Vera vs. Deiveson Figueiredo
  • Mackenzie Dern vs. Lupita Godinez
  • Tony Ferguson vs. Michael Chiesa

The main event fight between Cory Sandhagen and Umar Nurmagomedov has potential title implications attached to it. We know that Merab Dvalishvili is getting the next crack at the bantamweight champion Sean O'Malley but the No. 1 contender spot is up for grabs. Sandhagen has been vying for his first title shot ever since his loss to Petr Yan and the undefeated Nurmagomedov, the cousin of Khabib Nurmagomedov, has been trying to get a fight against someone in top-5 and on August 3rd he finally gets his wish.

The rest of this fight card so far is very exciting with the former men's flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo taking on former bantamweight title challenger Marlon Vera. Also, Tony Ferguson will be making his return to the Octagon but this time it will be at welterweight when he takes on Michael Chiesa who's also coming off a long layoff. Then there is two surging strawweight contenders Mackenzie Dern and Lupita Godinez battling it out in hopes of getting back on track and climbing the strawweight rankings.

This fight card is far from finalized so you're going to have to stay tuned for updates from Dana White himself as more matchups drop for this highly anticipated fight card.