History of cuts leads to plastic surgery for Diaz

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By Jeff Cain, MMAWeekly.com

Nick Diaz has a history of being cut in fights and after losing to K.J. Noons for the EliteXC lightweight championship due to them, Diaz decided enough was enough and underwent plastic surgery to alleviate scar tissue and hopefully prevent the California fighter from suffering future lacerations.

Diaz' trainer, Cesar Gracie, discussed the procedure and it's success to the media via conference call on Monday. "Over his career he's built up a lot of scar tissue, so it keeps cutting over and over on his ocular bone," explained Gracie.

"We had a plastic surgeon look at it. He said that Nick's ocular bones are extremely sharp, and he's always going to cut and keep building up scar tissue. So, fortunately, the plastic surgeon was able to remedy that by filing it down and making it smooth like someone that doesn't cut."

The outpatient surgery that took "a few hours" was a complete success by all accounts. "Before, Nick was constantly getting cut, even when he was rolling. I mean, it was weird," said Gracie. "But it's been a complete success and we're really pleased with it. It's going to really add to the longevity of his career."

"He was getting cut off silly stuff. So we're just thrilled that we can put that behind him," added Gracie. "Now when he loses, it can be because he got stopped, he got knocked out or something. Look at the [Takanori] Gomi fight, his face was a bloody mess, and he still came back and won because fortunately that doctor didn't stop the fight. He let it go."

Diaz has competed once since the plastic surgery, winning in impressive fashion over Katsuya Inoue in the DREAM promotion.

"Nick came out like the Nick Diaz of old that we're accustomed to seeing back in the day, really aggressive. Doing what he does," stated Gracie. "He looked really good."

"Nick is a really tough guy. I think, without getting cut up, you're going to see Nick is really hard to stop... We're excited that now he's going to have to be submitted or knocked out to lose the fight."

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