Nick Diaz has reportedly withdrawn from his UFC 310 fight against Vicente Luque, according to MMA Mania.

Diaz will be replaced on the card by Themba Gorimbo.

Diaz and his brother Nate are very popular in the MMA community, but at this point Dana White and the UFC would be wise not to re-book Nick.

It is unclear why Diaz withdrew from the event, but a woman named Kay, believed to be his girlfriend, was released a disturbing video from him. She followed the video with a post on Instagram that referenced drug problems.

The caption says, “Drug addiction doesn’t last forever. You’ll find sobriety or it will cost you your life.”

We don’t know when this video was shot, nor has it been confirmed that it is Diaz. Unfortunately, we do know that Diaz will become increasingly difficult to keep on the card after he is scheduled.

Diaz, 41, is a former Strikeforce and WEC welterweight champion. However, he hasn’t fought since Robbie Lawler stopped him in September 2021. Diaz was scheduled to fight Luque in Abu Dhabi in July, but the former was pulled from the card.

There was speculation that Diaz’s absence was due to visa issues. Some seemingly indisputable factors should have UFC matchmakers wondering if they should ever book Diaz for another fight.

Age is an important factor. Even if Diaz had no other complications, his advanced age should give the UFC some pause. If you add inactivity, there’s even more reason why Diaz might not be a good choice for matchmakers.

At this point, it would only make sense for Diaz to fight other legends who are far from their prime and may be in the same age group. Although Luque is a veteran, he is nine years younger than Diaz. That age difference seemed a bit big from the start.

While there is an argument that Tony Ferguson, Donald Cerrone and Diego Sanchez should never fight again if they ever climb back into the Octagon, they should only fight each other, and Diaz falls into the same category.

Due to Diaz’s availability issues, there should also be some hesitation in booking him for a fight with either of these guys.

In this situation, think about Luque. He has now prepared to fight Diaz twice, but is told that won’t happen. That’s a tough deal for any potential opponent. Now Luque is locked in a battle with Gorimbo, a rising talent in another part of his career.

Most importantly, if Diaz has personal and medical issues, he may need to focus on getting the help he needs to overcome them. Diaz is revered for his contributions to MMA, but it’s time to accept that his days as a competitor may be over.

Here we are now with the UFC 310 card.

UFC 310 main event on ESPN+ PPV

• Flyweight: UFC Flyweight Champion Alexandre Pantoja vs. Kai Asakura
• Welterweight: Shavkat Rakhmonov vs. Ian Garry (five rounds)
• Heavyweight: Ciryl Gane vs. Alexander Volkov
• Featherweight: Movsar Evloev vs. Aljamain Sterling
• Welterweight: Themba Gorimbo vs. Vicente Luque

UFC 310 Prelims card on ESPN2/ESPN+

• Light Heavyweight: Anthony Smith vs. Dominick Reyes
• Lightweight: Chase Hooper vs. Clay Guida
• Welterweight: Michael Chiesa vs. Max Griffin
• Flyweight: Cody Durden vs. Joshua Van
• Welterweight: Randy Brown vs. Bryan Battle
• Heavyweight: Tallison Teixeira vs. Łukasz Brzeski
• Heavyweight: Rizvan Kuniev vs. Martin Buday
• Featherweight: Nate Landwehr vs. Doo Ho Choi

UFC upcoming schedule

The UFC invaded Madison Square Garden on Saturday night for UFC 309. You can check out MSG’s results here.

However, next weekend’s scheduled fights are nothing to sneeze about. Check out the card scheduled for UFC Macau on November 23.

• Petr Yan vs. Deiveson Figueiredo
• Xiaonan Yan vs. Tabatha Ricci
• Ozzy Diaz vs. Mingyang Zhang
• Kenan Song vs. Muslim Salikhov
• Cong Wang vs. Gabriella Fernandes
• Volkan Oezdemir vs. Carlos Ulberg
• Carlos Hernandez vs. Nyamjargal Tumendemberel
• Xiaocan Feng vs. Ming Shi
• Kiru Sahota vs. Dong Hoon Choi
• Su Young You vs. Balgyn Jenisuly
• Kangjie Zhu vs. Bin Xie
• Lone’er Kavanagh vs. Jose Ochoa
• Long Xiao vs. Quang Le
• Maheshate Hayisaer vs. Nikolas Motta

Stay tuned for fight week coverage leading up to the Macau card.