Cesar Gracie will not be in Nick Diaz’s camp ahead of his bout against Vicente Luque at UFC on ABC 7 in Abu Dhabi on August 3.
Diaz’s longtime coach isn’t happy with some aspects of the booking, including the overseas trip and the matchup with Luque, which will be Diaz’s first Octagon appearance since his third-round TKO loss to Robbie Lawler at UFC 266 in September 2021.
“I had nothing to do with that fight. To be completely honest with you, it wasn’t my idea. It’s not a fight I was going to do,” Gracie recently told Submission Radio. “If I was advising Nick, I wouldn’t have encouraged him to do that fight. The Abu Dhabi fight. I don’t encourage fighting overseas at this point, especially
[because] Luque is a very tough guy, I know Nick is a tough guy, but I don’t really understand where Nick is at in his career.
“And I don’t know. It’s not a fight I was planning on doing. I don’t even know what that fight is going to be, to be honest with you. I talked to Nick. I talked to Nick a little bit today and, yeah, I don’t have anything planned for that fight, to be honest with you. I don’t even know what that fight is going to be, to be honest with you.”
Gracie said he’s in regular contact with Diaz but that it’s not necessarily related to an upcoming fight, so he doesn’t have much insight into the former Strikeforce champion’s mindset.
“I’m not involved in his training this time. I’m not involved,” Gracie said. “We talk every day, but I honestly don’t know how it’s going to go. I don’t know. I don’t know what’s going to happen. And again, with the camp, our camp in general, I don’t think I’m as involved as with other things.”
“So I don’t know what Nick is doing. I know he lost a lot of weight, but I haven’t seen him train with any fighters. And I don’t know what’s going on with that fight.”
Gracie said Diaz hasn’t been in top form since his 2015 fight with Anderson Silva, after which the Nevada State Athletic Commission handed him a lengthy suspension after he tested positive for marijuana. Diaz was initially suspended for five years, but eventually reached a settlement with the commission and the suspension was reduced to 18 months.
“Nick has changed a lot overall since the Anderson Silva thing,” Gracie said. “I think when the commission banned him for years for the marijuana ban, it kind of confused him. He stopped going to the gym because he had no reason to go. All of a sudden he wasn’t hanging out with the guys at the gym. It’s tough being a guy like Nick Diaz. He’s an icon in the sport. He’s so famous, everyone wants to be associated with him.” After Gracie’s Octagon appearance, he revealed that the Stockton, California native was coming into the bout with two ruptured discs in his neck. But Diaz wasn’t pulling out because of financial issues.
Ahead of the Luque bout, Gracie claims that Diaz appears healthy but is not engaging in his usual training activities – in fact, he’s not even in California.
“So it’s not that we’re not close. Of course I love Nick and I talk to him every day. I just run things a certain way. He’s not there training with the other guys,” Gracie said. “Normally he’d be training and sparring with Jake Shields and his brother. Nick wasn’t there.” [on Saturday] For Nate’s fight [against Jorge
Masvidal]”I have no grudges or anything. I think the people in Texas who are holding Nick just want to hold him. I hope they take good care of him. That’s all I can say.”
Diaz’s last win was against BJ Penn at UFC 137 in October 2011. Since then, he has gone winless in four fights, losing to Carlos Condit, Georges St-Pierre, Silva and Lawler.
