Could we be on the verge of a new era in the UFC – an era of a new-look Nick Diaz?

Diaz (26-8 MMA, 7-5 UFC) this past week was in Montreal along with welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre (23-2 MMA, 17-2 UFC) to promote the on-sale date of their title fight at UFC 158 in March.

Given that Diaz became part of MMA infamy in 2011 by missing a pair of news conferences for what was going to be a title fight against St-Pierre, which caused UFC President Dana White to yank him from the fight and replace him with Carlos Condit, his attendance on Wednesday came as a welcomed event in the sport.

White on Saturday told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) that when it came to Diaz’s disposition for the Wednesday press and fan event at Montreal’s Bell Centre, which hosts the March 16 fight card, he was on his game.

“Not only did Nick come, he was on time for everything – I’m pretty sure he didn’t miss any flights,” White said, a reference to the flights Diaz missed that forced his absence from the aforementioned UFC 137 press conferences. “He couldn’t have been cooler. He came there and did what he had to do. He even stuck around and did pictures with the fans after. It was cool.”

Diaz has been suspended for the past year after failing a post-fight drug test at UFC 143. After being pulled from the St-Pierre fight at UFC 137 in favor of Condit, he was put into a fight with B.J. Penn. St-Pierre injured his knee and was forced to the sidelines, where Condit waited. Diaz beat Penn, and with St-Pierre sitting cageside, he called out the champ – who then told Dana White he wanted to fight Diaz as soon as he could, and not Condit.

But when a second knee injury forced St-Pierre out for even longer, Diaz and Condit fought for the interim title at UFC 143. Condit won in a close and controversial unanimous decision, but Diaz tested positive for marijuana metabolites, regardless. His second positive test in Nevada resulted in a yearlong suspension that lifts after this weekend.

White said he understands Diaz’s aversion to doing the media events that go hand-in-hand with things like headlining cards and fighting for titles.

“I know he hates to do it, but everybody does,” White said. “You guys have no idea. These guys are in their camp, they’re in their own little world, and then they’ve gotta leave and do all the press and media and it’s hard. That sounds stupid, but it’s harder than people think. You’re answering the same questions over and over. But it’s what we do. It’s part of the game, and everybody wants to talk about making Floyd Mayweather money, but Floyd works his ass off to promote a fight.”

White stopped short of saying Diaz was taught a lesson by the UFC when he pulled him from the original title fight with St-Pierre.

But now with a second chance – even though he’s coming off a loss to Condit, he jumped past Johny Hendricks in line when St-Pierre said it was the fight he favored right now – perhaps Diaz is bringing a new attitude along with it.

“I don’t want to say that he learned a lesson, like, ‘Yeah, we taught him a lesson,'” White said. “I think a lot of what he said at the press conference is true. I think he had this feeling like he’s been fighting since he was 18 years old, he never caught a break, always felt like he was on the wrong side of the deal since he was 18 years old. He’s had a year off, feels like he rested up, healed up some injuries and had some time to relax.

“Without him saying it, I’m sure he’s probably pretty excited to be back into it. You take a year off, pretty f—ing boring.”

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