Biography
Diaz was born and raised in Stockton, California. He is the older brother of UFC fighter Nate Diaz. He went to Tokay High School in Lodi, California for one year before dropping out. While a freshman, he was a member of the swim team. Diaz has stated in the past that he is thankful his mother got him into swimming classes because swimming is one of the main reasons why his cardio is so impressive during his fights. Diaz has also said on multiple occasions that he had a hard childhood and grew up without his biological father. Diaz started practicing karate and aikido at an early age.
Diaz originally started training in martial arts because he was being bullied by other teenagers who were bigger than he was. He then watched the UFC for the first time and soon wanted to be able to fight in the organization. His younger brother, Nathan is also a professional MMA fighter in the Lightweight division and the winner of The Ultimate Fighter 5. Nick also regularly competes in triathlons as part of his training. Diaz started training in Sambo at the age of 16 under a Bulgarian National Sambo Champion Val Ignatov. In his recent interview with Ariel Helwani, Diaz stated that he still trains Sambo under the same coach hence the reason his ground game is different from other MMA fighters that only train in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Diaz was promoted to black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu by Cesar Gracie on May 8, 2007. Diaz currently teaches jiu-jitsu at his and brother Nathan's school in Lodi, CA.
Read more about this topic: Nick Diaz
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