Although Nick Diaz may not be a fan of the media, his trainer Cesar Gracie is always willing to share his opinion.
In an interview with MMAFighting (mmafighting.com) Gracie discussed Diaz’ performance against UFC 137 as well as how he feels about Georges St-Pierre.
“It’s five rounds with Nick Diaz.” Gracie said about Diaz in a title fight against St-Pierre. “That’s a long time to have that guy in the cage with you. Three rounds is long enough, five rounds is long enough…I think that’s going to be the biggest fight in UFC history.”
Although he was disappointed at Diaz for missing the two press conferences that got him pulled from the title fight, Gracie was happy that Diaz showed up on fight night.
“The guy that went to the press conference didn’t fight,” Gracie said. “Nick, yeah he’s the bad guy…but come fight night, you guys saw what he’s made of. He showed up. And the guys that made the press conference, they weren’t here tonight.”
Gracie continued to praise Diaz for making the fight as well as Penn for taking it.
“Nick was injured, but he still fought.” Gracie said. “These fighters they train so hard that they’re gonna get hurt. But despite his injuries that guy was here for the fans, and he’s a warrior, just like B.J.”
Gracie was one of the first people to come out a say he didn’t agree with Diaz missing the two press conferences.
But he did say that he believed that the fans didn’t care about fighters making them. Whether this is true or not, Gracie was proud that Diaz got to show that he belonged with the elite level of welterweights.