Manager: We hope to strike deal for Nick Diaz's return by end of 2020

Nick Diaz's manager remains confident the former UFC title challenger will return to the Octagon in 2021.

Kevin Mubenga said Wednesday he hopes to finalize a deal with the UFC by the end of the year.

"We just gotta get everything else right with the organization and with everything, and we'll be able to move forward," Mubenga said on his "Fight Game Chronicles" podcast.

Mubenga revealed in September that Diaz had just completed a 14-week diet and training regimen. At the time, Diaz was "100%" planning to compete again and was targeting an early 2021 return.

Now, Mubenga believes there's a "99.999" percent chance Diaz will fight in 2021.

"He took a little break (from training) because you don't want to overtrain and (be) over-exhausted," Mubenga said. "Took a little break last month and now we're gonna pick it back up in December and go into the new year hopefully with a deal done. Make sure the money is right and the opponent is right and we'll be able to move forward."

Diaz hasn't stepped into the cage since a middleweight bout against Anderson Silva in January 2015.