The Diaz brothers are at it again. This time it’s Nate who’s heading to the drama well to stir up some more talk among MMA fans.
According to Ariel Helwani, Diaz has dropped Cesar Gracie as his manager and picked up Mike Kogan.
“As just reported on @ufctonight, according to sources v. close to Nate Diaz, his new manager is @mikekogan.”
This comes on the heels of Nate’s older brother Nick complaining about not having a proper camp in the weeks leading up to his clash with Georges St-Pierre at UFC 158.
“I felt like everyone knew I had it coming, like Cesar knew I had it coming, everyone knew I had it coming, and then as soon as I had it coming, no one was around to help me,” Diaz said during the post-fight press conference.
“The only ones that came to help me was my sambo coach Gil Castillo. And you know, Jake (Shields) and Gil (Melendez), they obviously, they can’t train hard right now, they have fights coming up” (via Bleacher Report).
If Gracie was having issues getting a proper camp together for Nick in the biggest fight of his life, it must be difficult for the other guys in the gym. Of course Nate’s change of heart may have something to do with Dana White‘s recent comments about Gracie being “a huge part of the problem” with Nick’s unreliability.
As we’ve seen in the past with Golden Glory, the UFC doesn’t care to be embroiled in a debate with a fighter’s management and will push the fighters to the side.
Nate hasn’t left Gracie’s camp entirely, and it’s expected he’ll still train there, as it’s the only place Nate has been. And training with guys like Jake Shields and Gilbert Melendez for so long, I’d assume their bond is pretty tight.
Even if Nate doesn’t leave entirely, it’s a good move on his part, as it seems like Gracie can’t handle being a manager and a coach at the same time (based on Nick’s comments). It’s probably best for Gracie to focus on just making Nate a better fighter instead of shooting out texts looking to fly guys in.
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