Cesar Gracie wrote this past week that he would respectfully ask UFC president Dana White to make a superfight between Nick Diaz (27-8 MMA, 7-5 UFC) and middleweight champ Anderson Silva (31-4, 14-0).
The answer to that request already is no, UFC president Dana White on Thursday told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com).
"I can tell you this, not theoretically – Diaz/Anderson is not going to happen," he said. "That's just ridiculous."
Gracie said Diaz had recently returned to the gym with newfound passion. He said the UFC should promote the fight in a state other than Nevada, where Diaz currently is suspended for a second positive drug test for marijuana, or in another country where the UFC serves as the de-facto regulator.
"[Gracie] would have a better chance of convincing me, I don't know, to get hair plugs," White said.
Along with Silva vs. welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre (22-2 MMA, 16-2 UFC) and Silva vs. light heavyweight champ Jon Jones (16-1 MMA, 10-1 UFC), it was the latest in a line of theoretical matchups for the middleweight kingpin, who continues to sit atop the pound-for-pound rankings.
And according to White, it's the zaniest.
"Nick Diaz makes no sense," he said. "I know that sounds fun. Yeah! Throw Nick Diaz in there! If you really look at the thing, Nick Diaz just lost to Condit at 170, so that gives him the opportunity to move up to 185 and fight the pound-for-pound best in the world? In what [expletive] universe does that make sense?"
As for next week's meeting, White said it's to re-sign Nate Diaz, who remains the No. 1 lightweight contender and will meet the winner of an upcoming title rematch at UFC 150 between former champ Frankie Edgar and current champ Benson Henderson.
Silva's next move has been intensely pondered by fans since he defended his title this past month against Chael Sonnen, extending his record for title defenses to 10. White said the UFC audience wanted to see superfights with St-Pierre and Jones, but acknowledged that St-Pierre is a frontrunner among his staff.
Of course, St-Pierre first needs to defeat interim champion Carlos Condit, a fight being targeted for UFC 154 in November.
"I think finally with the inactivity from GSP that people now consider Anderson the pound-for-pound (greatest)," White said. "But there was an argument there for a long time. And if GSP hadn't been this inactive, maybe the debate would still be there. But he's definitely still No. 2 or 3 in the world, depending on who you ask.
"If you were really going to make a fight like that, it would make more sense with Georges St-Pierre than it would be Diaz."
As to whether the superfight is set, White hedged that there are too many variables to confirm anything.
"It's always theoretical," he said. "You don't know what's doing to happen. We'll see what happens in the future here, and maybe that is the fight we're going we're going to make."
Source: UFC president Dana White slams door on Nick Diaz vs. Anderson Silva superfight