In case you’ve been incapacitated since late Saturday evening, UFC welterweight Nick Diaz was a no-show for his Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu superfight with world renowned black belt Braulio Estima on Sunday.
Cesar Gracie promised on Twitter to have an explanation on Monday for Diaz never showing his face for the World Jiu-Jitsu Expo main event.
While the explanation was a little late, Gracie had plenty to say on Tuesday, placing the blame on “Brazilian cronies” for managing the event poorly while placing very little blame on Diaz.
Estima wasted no time in responding and debunking just about every point that Gracie made (via TwitLonger):
1st- When junior approached me 2 Offer me the fight I was actually training at the blackzilians at the time so obviously I was training Mma. Junior told me abt nick not wanting 2 fight an Mma fighter. I nevr fought before so he said it was fine & y u dnt cancel the fight before if ths was really an issue..??
2nd- nobody has ever bended no rules for me. Because there was no rules set to start off with, it wasnt going to be a UFC match but a superfight on a BJJ Expo so the whole point here was for us to show a fight..has Nick signed a contract that stated the date time and weight that we both need to reach? I didn’t. And since this whole thing was going to be a friendly event I really don’t see any issue here even if Nick turned up 10lbs overweight.
For those who did not read Gracie’s statement in detail, he claimed that Nalty Junior, the World Jiu-Jitsu Expo marketer, misled Diaz and his camp by saying Estima had no ambition to fight MMA. The one stipulation Diaz asked for, according to Gracie, was that he fought a BJJ fighter, not “a wannabe MMA guy” and that Estima just wanted the matchup to promote his MMA career.
Gracie also criticized Estima for “making weight when you want to,” hence the jiu-jitsu ace’s second point.
The man many consider the best active jiu-jitsu practitioner was less than pleased with the shot about allegedly not making weight:
Still when asked I went and dropped the weight to meet the requirement. Actually to put things straight it was myself that called Junior around 10pm Friday to check if there is going to be a weigh in at all. He kept contacting you and got back to me saying I need to be 180 that time, of course I said I can’t for the simple reason I was away in Irvine and it was already late at night but I said sure no problem I’ll make it first thing in the morning if needed, even if it would put me in a bigger disadvantage I didnt care I just came to fight. Junior had actually called me back no later than midnight that he spoke to you and confirmed the weigh in for 10am.
Besides when did Nick actually weigh in? And who witnessed that if we are being so strict and proffessional? [sic].
There are two sides to every story, but most fans seem to be siding with Estima in this situation given Diaz’s penchant for no-showing in the past.
Braulio further elaborated on why he feels the whole controversy over whether or not he made weight was absurd:
3rd – you are saying Nick had left by 10am Saturday morning? Why you never said anything then? I even asked you I’d like to see him and his weight and you said he’s not gonna come down because he ate already and wouldn’t make the weight anymore. And Lana after speaking to you called his room and said he was actually there sleeping. Nobody at any point had mentioned he could have left. Leaving me believing we would fight till the very last minute, now youre talking about lack of proffesionalism in the organisation of the superfight and this was very professional behaviour right?
There is many more points here that I don’t agree with but I am just fed up of this whole situation and don’t agree for anyone to ever release the blame from Nick for whatever reason, we were there to fight and that’s what should happen no excuses, we are both professional athletes and should respect one another no matter what. And this is inexcusable.
Interestingly, Gracie was appreciative of Estima’s opinion and decided to shift the entirety of the blame on Nalty Junior.
@BraulioEstima thanks for your response. I think the problem is we both got our information from Junior. Let’s get on a radio show together
— Cesar Gracie (@CesarGracieBJJ) May 16, 2012
What do you think fight fans? Does Gracie’s explanation actually hold any water, or did Estima prove how flimsy that statement actually was?
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