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Long-awaited comebacks of Nick Diaz, Anderson Silva transpire at UFC 183

Diaz explains delayed arrival in Las Vegas for annual Super Bowl card

UFC183 Media Day at MGM Grand Casino

L.E. Baskow

Featured UFC183 fighter Nick Diaz answers a question during media day events at the MGM Grand on Thursday, January 29, 2015.

UFC 183: Media Day at MGM

The UFC183 fighters Anderson Silva and Nick Diaz pose for the crowd during media day events at the MGM Grand on Thursday, January 29, 2015. Launch slideshow »

UFC 183: Silva-Diaz Workouts

UFC 183 fighter Anderson Silva readies to make a strike during 'workouts' open to the public at the MGM Grand Casino floor on Wednesday, January 28, 2015. Launch slideshow »

Nick Diaz’s luggage arrived in Las Vegas from Sacramento Tuesday afternoon.

The UFC 183 headliner didn’t join his bags in town until more than 24 hours later. After missing an open workout Wednesday, the perpetually evasive Diaz was on hand for UFC 183 Ultimate Media Day Thursday with an explanation.

“When we got to the airport, I was like, ‘I think I’d rather just sleep in my bed tonight,’” Diaz described. “I think they were going to try to jam me with a bunch of things to keep me up. I was like, ‘This might not be good. I left half of my stuff at home. I’m not ready for tomorrow,' so we flipped a U-turn and headed back home.”

It’s not the first time Diaz has missed part of fight week. In fact, it’s more rare for him to show up as scheduled.

Diaz has become a living mixed martial arts equivalent to Waldo in that he’s nearly impossible to track down at first. Many wondered if they’d ever find the 31-year-old star in the octagon again after he retired following a loss to Georges St. Pierre in March 2013.

But Diaz always figured he’d return for the right opportunity, which turned out to be a fight against former middleweight champion Anderson Silva at UFC 183 Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. The pay-per-view card begins at 7 following preliminary bouts airing on Fox Sports 1 and streaming through UFC Fight Pass.

Together, Diaz (26-9 MMA, 7-6 UFC) and Silva (33-6 MMA, 16-2 UFC) combine for the longest layoff in the history of a UFC pay-per-view main event.

“I knew early on I was going to fight again,” Diaz said. “So I took caution with that and trained the way I should. I do things, regardless of whether I’m fighting or not, at a top, competitive level.”

Speculation also ran rampant on Silva’s future after he snapped his leg in a second loss to Chris Weidman in December 2013. But, like Diaz, the 39-year-old Silva knew almost immediately that he’d fight again.

That’s where the similarities between the two hiatuses end. Silva underwent a taxing recovery process to repair his broken tibia and fibula.

The record-holder for the most title defenses in UFC history, 10, couldn’t walk for a month, couldn’t run for two months and couldn’t kick for four months. Silva fully resumed training in the summer, the earliest he possibly could under his doctor’s original timetable.

“After the year I had and the horrible things I went through over the past year, I’m just very happy and very excited to be back,” the reserved Silva said.

More questions than ever before surround the fighter considered the greatest of all-time. One of the sport’s best kickboxers, it’s natural to wonder if he’ll kick with the same confidence after suffering the horrific injury.

Then there’s the concern on if Silva can take a punch like he once could, considering Weidman rocked him in both their meetings. Silva deflects any probing into the uncertainties, and regards the past as irrelevant.

“It’s my legacy, my dream and the new Anderson is back,” Silva said. “It’s more experience, more technique. I’m faster, stronger and happier and the UFC is giving me one more chance to show my job when I go inside the octagon.”

While Silva worked his way through therapy sessions — both physical and mental — Diaz put his attention in areas that he felt he neglected by becoming a professional fighter at 17 years old.

He bought a house, competed in triathlons and advanced his training methods.

“I rushed to get a lot of things done, to square a lot of things away,” Diaz said. “A lot of things weren’t very easy. It took me a lot of time to get settled into where I was retired or taking a break.”

Once he finally found the balance, Diaz said he felt refreshed. It was a sense of peace that had eluded him for most of his career, especially going into the much-hyped grudge match with St. Pierre at UFC 158.

“I was supposed to fight Georges St. Pierre two fights before I got him,” Diaz said. “If I would have fought him when I was supposed to fight him, he would have gotten worked. There’s no way he would have won. And he hurt his leg. Dude, you’re lucky you hurt your leg because I was ready to fight. What about then? By the time I got the fight, I was like, ‘I don’t care.’”

Diaz remains quick to insult St. Pierre, but won’t say anything negative about Silva. He referred to Saturday’s opponent as “the most important fighter out here.”

Silva is a fighter so important that this matchup was mocked when the then-undisputed champion’s team suggested it three years ago. Much has changed since, though Diaz still has twice as many concerns as Silva.

Spending his whole UFC career at welterweight, Diaz hasn’t competed at middleweight in six years. Like Silva, he’s also lost two in a row to make UFC 183 the first-ever pay-per-view card feature fighters on two-fight losing streaks in the main event.

He has a tendency to purposely leave himself open in order to initiate action, which could be exceedingly dangerous against a fighter with 20 career knockouts.

Silva also accused Diaz of losing “the fire” to fight when he skipped his flight.

“I didn’t mean to discourage the other fighters,” Diaz said. “I’m sorry, hey when you get 30 or 40 fights or fight some of the best guys out there, I don’t know. I’m not trying to say I’m special. I’m saying I take it like it is and do what I’ve got to do.”

Case Keefer can be reached at 948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.

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