Nick Diaz is to honoring professional commitments what Bob Sapp is to winning professional fights. (And quoting Anthony K., “…at least Sapp is actually professional enough to show up to fight.”)
Whoever thought that grappling for charity last night at the World Jiu-Jitsu Expo was cool to Diaz must have felt a hard slap in the face.
Those responsible for arranging that much-hyped and now unrealized grappling match must be squirming with wedgies wherever they are now.
Whoever honestly believed that their guy was ever open to possibly losing (a great possibility, by the way) an “innocuous” grappling match versus Braulio Estima must quit whatever they’re smoking.
Estima, after all, is a multi-titled world champion in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
And he has beaten the fighter Joe Rogan calls the “Michael Jordan of grappling,” Marcelo Garcia. That makes Estima the Kobe Bryant…okay, just kidding.
In any case, the case is clear that as far as pure grappling is concerned, Estima belongs to the Los Angeles Lakers while Diaz plays with the Los Angeles D-Fenders, the NBA developmental league team.
And Diaz was right in his esteem of Estima. Must be very scary, homie.
How did his game opponent feel on the empty mat? According to Jake Bratcher of ProMMA, in his live feed on the dead mat, “Estima came from the U.K. for this fight with Diaz and he made weight. He was extremely disappointed Diaz would not fight and addressed the crowd, saying if Nick would not fight him in BJJ, he would fight him in MMA.”*
But Diaz might oblige to an MMA fight, which he and his acolytes seem to define as a “standup toe-to-toe brawl.”
Can Diaz accept a grappling loss—or any other loss—in the spirit of sportsmanship? Next question, please.
And here are more thoughts from our featured columnist Matthew Roth from his oven-fresh article Nick Diaz Does Not Care About Charity People, No-Shows BJJ Match:
This was the final match of a very entertaining online pay per view. The pay per view was priced at $10 and the big story leading into this super fight was that Nick Diaz was going to donate all of his winnings to charity. Seriously, this guy is supposed to compete for charity and doesn’t have the decency to inform the promoters and fans that he had no intention of grappling.
Previously, as if we don’t know it yet, he also did a Harry Houdini for the two press conferences of UFC 137 in 2011, which he headlined against the welterweight champion and better-fighter-than-Condit, Georges St-Pierre.
And yes, that main event also went puff.
Proving once again that he has perfected the disappearing act, Diaz should consider entering another profession.
And move over, Criss Angel.
Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com