It seems that Cesar
Gracie received’t be a part of Nick Diaz’s
camp for his upcoming struggle in opposition to Vicente
Luque at
UFC on ABC 7 in Abu Dhabi on Aug. 3.
Diaz’s longtime coach doesn’t like just a few points of the reserving,
together with the abroad journey and the matchup in opposition to Luque. It
will likely be Diaz’s first Octagon look since a third-round TKO
loss as a result of retirement in opposition to Robbie
Lawler at UFC 266 in September 2021.
“I’m actually not concerned in that struggle. I’m going to be completely
trustworthy with you. That wasn’t my thought. It wasn’t a struggle I’d
have had,” Gracie not too long ago advised Submission Radio. “Like if I used to be advising Nick, I
wouldn’t have suggested him to try this struggle. It’s in Abu Dhabi. I
wouldn’t advise to go struggle abroad at this level, particularly
[because] Luque is a really powerful man. You already know Nick is a troublesome man,
but it surely simply doesn’t make that a lot sense for me the place Nick is at in
his profession.
“And I don’t know. It’s not the struggle I’d have made. I don’t
even know what’s occurring with that struggle to be trustworthy with you. I
communicate to Nick. I spoke to Nick at present just a little bit, and yeah, I
don’t have any plans for that struggle, to be trustworthy with you. I don’t
even know what’s going to occur with that one to be trustworthy with
you.”
Whereas Gracie says he does have common contact with Diaz, it’s not
essentially associated to the upcoming struggle. In consequence, he doesn’t
have a lot perception into the previous Strikeforce champion’s
mindset.
“I haven’t been a part of his coaching for this one. I’m simply not,”
Gracie mentioned. “We speak on daily basis, and I don’t know what’s going to
occur with that, to be trustworthy with you. I don’t. It’s a tossup
what’s going to occur. And like, once more, I believe the camp, our camp
typically, we haven’t been as concerned like we’re with different
stuff.
“And so I don’t know what Nick is doing. I do know he’s misplaced quite a lot of
weight and every part, however I don’t actually see him coaching with
fighters. And I don’t know what’s occurring with that struggle.”
In accordance with Gracie, Diaz hasn’t been the identical because the struggle
in opposition to Anderson
Silva in 2015, when the Nevada State Athletic Fee handed
him a prolonged ban as a result of a optimistic marijuana check. Diaz was
initially suspended 5 years, however he ultimately
reached a settlement with the fee that lowered the ban
to 18 months.
“Nick typically after the Anderson Silva factor, there was quite a lot of
modifications,” Gracie mentioned. “When the fee took him out for years
with the weed ban factor, I believe that sort of threw him for a loop.
He wasn’t within the fitness center as a result of there was no motive fo him to be in
the fitness center. All of a sudden he wasn’t hanging out with individuals from the fitness center.
It’s powerful to be a man like Nick Diaz. He’s such an icon of the
sport. He’s so well-known and everyone desires a bit of him.” After
Gracie’s newest Octagon look, Gracie revealed that the
Stockton, California, native was
competing with two ruptured discs in his neck. Nonetheless, Diaz
didn’t withdraw from the struggle as a result of monetary issues.
Forward of the struggle in opposition to Luque, Gracie claims that Diaz hasn’t
been doing what he’d usually do throughout camp, although he’s
apparently wholesome. As a substitute, Diaz just isn’t even in California.
“So it’s not that we’re not shut — I like Nick clearly — we speak
on daily basis…it’s simply that I do issues a sure manner … He’s simply not
actually a part of the coaching with the blokes,” Gracie mentioned. “Usually
proper now he’d be coaching with Jake Shields,
he’d be coaching along with his brother, he would hae been sparring. Nick
was not there [on Saturday] for Nate’s struggle [against Jorge
Masvidal]. No dangerous blood or something in anyway. I believe that
the individuals which are holding on to Nick in Texas, wish to maintain on to
Nick. I hope they take excellent care of him, that’s all I can say.
Diaz’s final victory got here in opposition to B.J. Penn at UFC
137 in October 2011. He has since gone winless in 4 fights,
falling to Carlos
Condit, Georges St.
Pierre, Silva and Lawler.
