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Cesar Gracie: If UFC wants teammates fighting, why doesn’t Dana White fight Lorenzo Fertitta on PPV?
By Zach Arnold | April 6, 2011
There was a great interview with Cesar Gracie on The Fight Show yesterday. A lot of topics were covered and I’ll have the quotes here for you in a second.
One of the big topics discussed was, should Jake Shields beat GSP in Toronto and win the UFC Welterweight title, the concept of UFC wanting Jake Shields (as a UFC champion) facing Nick Diaz (as the Strikeforce champion should he beat Paul Daley). The idea of UFC wanting that to happen, given what’s happened with Rashad Evans & Jon Jones at Greg Jackson’s camp, is one that Cesar Gracie says he would not allow to happen.
“Well, every camp has to make that decision for themselves. But you first have to define the term ‘teammate.’ If a teammate is starting a camp and you recruit fighters from outside who have never met each other or, you know, barely know each other and you bring them in, OK now you’re training here. Well, you know, they can fight each other because these guys haven’t grown up in the sport before that and when you get a guy like Jake Shields and Nick Diaz, Gilbert Melendez, Nathan Diaz, guys like that what happens is these guys went from, you know, beginning white belt and at the very infant stages of their careers to where they’re at now, superstars. So, in that sense, it doesn’t make sense for them to fight. I would never have Nick and, you know, Jake fight each other and I wouldn’t have Gilbert and Nathan fight each other, it’s just not going to happen. So whether the fans want it or not, and you know, I know we get a lot of people complaining about that, that’s usually people who aren’t part of a team or who have never trained in their lives so they are looking at it from a different viewpoint than we do. But if you’re thinking about fighting your teammate, I mean… Nick has helped Jake tremendously and Jake has helped Nick tremendously. For example, when you think there’s a possibility that you might have to fight this guy, why would you help that guy? That’s the guy you’re helping to beat you some day.
“The Rashad Evans thing, I mean I obviously wasn’t there, I probably know as much about it as anyone else just reading something on the Internet or something. But when the other guy came in, Jon Jones, I’m sure Rashad helped that guy tremendously to be where he is at now. If they would have known from the get-go that they would be fighting each other possibly in the future, would Rashad have helped him? He probably wouldn’t have and therefore Jones wouldn’t be what he is today. And so I can absolutely see, you go in and it’s like, hey, this camp is saying ‘we don’t fight each other.’ Well, OK, then you help the guy out and, you know, he steamrolls everybody out there but you, that’s great. But if you think there’s a chance that you guys are fighting, why are you going to help him? It’s just a different thing.
“And Dana, you know, Dana White doesn’t appreciate that because he’s always looking for the big-money fight and what the fans want, to make money. But I’ll pose this question to him — when’s he going to fight one of the Fertitta brothers? Not going to happen! Someone offers him a bunch of money, is he going to go punch Lorenzo in the face, possibly knocking his teeth out for money?
“How about a childhood friend? If they grew up together, made money together and everything, he’s not going to go fight that guy. Well, why not? What if the fans called for it tomorrow? What if we thought that was interesting? And people obviously would pay to see that. Is he going to do it? No. OK, well, there you go.”
April is a big month for his camp, as both Nick Diaz & Gilbert Melendez fight on Saturday night’s Strikeforce card at the San Diego Sports Arena. Nate Diaz and Jake Shields fight on the huge Sky Dome/Rogers Centre event in Toronto at the end of the month.
(By the way, if you want to get credentialed for the Strikeforce event, Showtime’s PR firm isn’t controlling it any more. Guess who’s running credentials now? Lots of unhappy folks.)
Does Cesar stand by his comments that he thinks Nick Diaz could KO Paul Daley in a stand-up oriented fight?
“I think Nick’s got the better hands and I think wherever this fight goes, Nick is the better fighter. I think on the ground, obviously, I believe that Daley’s going to try to avoid that like the plague. If it hits the ground, Daley on top he’s got problems, Daley on bottom he’s got problems. So, I think Daley’s going to be really looking to keep this fight standing but unfortunately for him Diaz, his hands are very underrated and he’s got a granite chin. I mean I know anything can happen with those four ounce gloves, for sure, but I have to give that edge to Diaz standing up.”
“I would obviously like to see it hit the ground, so it would be great for us because Diaz can showcase his jiu-jitsu skills, which are incredible. actually. He’s a black belt under me, one of the few that have succeeded in making it to black belt and I would love him to get down there and tap this guy out just like my last guy that fought him, Jake Shields, tapped him out. So, it would be great if it hit the ground and he was able to show some nifty moves or something like that, but I’m confident with Nick’s stand-up also. We’ve had some outstanding boxers come out. We had Omar Henry, who’s a 10-0 boxer, 8 KOs, about the same size as Paul Daley, knockout power, the whole thing, and I had him out for like a week. So, Nick is ready for everything at this point and I know there’s variables and with those gloves anything can happen. But… I mean, again, I don’t want to, I just want to say that if Nick is not able to put this on the mat or unwilling to, you know how Nick is, you tell him to do something and he might do the opposite, so if that’s not going to happen (then) I’m very confident about his stand-up.”
The intense battle coming up between Gilbert Melendez and Crusher Kawajiri & building on past history
“You got to remember that fight was a very close fight. I think it might have been a split-decision. It was one of those fights where, you know, it depended on how you looked at that fight. Both guys had takedowns, both guys had great punches, dropping each other, the whole thing. I think Gilbert’s got something to prove to show how much he’s evolved since that fight and I know Kawajiri’s got a lot to prove because he wants to come over and really stop what’s been happening with the whole Japanese MMA thing. He’s carrying the weight of the country, you know, on his shoulders right now, to come out and show that not only is Japanese MMA not on the decline but that they can beat the top guys like Gilbert Melendez. Gilbert’s been, I hate to say it, the Japanese killer. He’s beaten Sato, he’s beaten Kawajiri, he’s beaten Aoki, he’s beaten all the guys really and he’s beaten all their legends at that weight class at 145 and now at 155, also, so it’s kind of, it’s a huge test for Kawajiri and I think he’s got a lot to prove and that’s only going to make this fight that much more exciting where both guys really want to put an exclamation point and show where they’re at today. I’m excited about this fight, I really am.”
What it will take for Nate Diaz to reach the next level in his career
“He’s looking great, you know. The biggest thing with Nathan Diaz and I’ll tell you this right now he’s one of the best fighters out there, period, and his record doesn’t reflect upon that because he’s kind of a slow starter and he’s a five round fighter and not a three round fighter and that’s the problem. Every single third round, you’ve seen the guy devastate people. Joe Stevenson, Clay Guida, on-and-on… the last guy he lost to, the Korean, Kim, same thing where he’s got the guy on queer street for the third round for most of the round and you can see that no one’s going to last a fourth round with this guy. The problem is that he’s been a slow starter, it’s the same problem Nick Diaz, you know, when he was around at that age or even younger actually, you know his career where he just wasn’t coming out and getting done quicker and everything. So, you know, these guys are tri-athletes and they’re meant for the long haul, they’re not as explosive but the trick is doing what Nick did is actually getting a championship and getting people where they have to fight them in five round fights where they can really showcase how good they are. And that’s been the problem for Nate Diaz, but he’s in tremendous shape and he’s one of the most technical guys out there, jiu-jitsu and his stand-up is phenomenal. It’s just putting it together, you know, he’s still a young guy. He’s going to put it together.”
Thoughts on the way UFC is marketing Jake Shields/GSP for Toronto?
“I thought it was great. I thought their marketing campaign is becoming world class and it’s rivaling anything boxing is doing now, it really is, finally in MMA. The whole thing with the trophies and everything, Jake has won everything. I mean, the guy’s come out and he’s just defeated everybody in every organization, he’s got so many championships it’s ridiculous. He’s one of the most decorated fighters on the planet. I had a talk with Jake about this, you know, I said, ‘this is champion vs. champion,’ this is not the up-and-coming guy, you know, this is the Strikeforce, Elite XC, Rumble on the Rock, Shooto, he was the Shooto champ when an American had never won it before. Jake Shields is a champion by every definition of the word and he’s fighting another champion and that’s, you know, let’s see who the better man is. I think truly GSP has cleaned out his weight division, there’s absolutely nobody in the UFC to fight this guy, so you have to bring in a guy like Jake Shields, you have to bring oen of my guys in. The two guys on this planet that the people want to see fight GSP at 170, there’s only two and that’s Jake Shields and the other one is probably Nick Diaz. So, here we go with sending one of my very top guys out there in the form of Jake Shields and I’m confident that Jake Shields can absolutely win this fight.”
Thoughts on the quality of training GSP is doing for the fight against Jake Shields
“He’s got excellent training, he’s got the guys out there from Renzo Gracie’s. This is really Gracie Jiu-Jitsu versus Gracie Jiu-Jitsu and this guy, GSP, his camp has been in New York, that’s where he’s training for this thing and of course he goes to London and trains with my cousin Roger Gracie who’s the best ground guy on the planet, so he’s got that. He’s got that and he’s got John Danaher, who’s a great coach, so he’s getting absolute great training for this fight and really it’s a Renzo Gracie guy versus the Cesar Gracie guy, so jiu-jitsu wins no matter what in this fight. But it’s an interesting match-up, it really is. GSP’s been a great champion, he steamrolled the competition, and really you have to have a guy and fortunately for the UFC there’s this guy, Jake Shields, who has not only defeated everybody in his weight class outside of the UFC and other UFC fighters when they come out to UFC they fight to Jake Shields and they lose, then he goes up in weight at 185 and beats Dan Henderson. Now, that’s an amazing win, you know, five rounds of beating Dan Henderson is incredible and, you know, fortunately they have a guy that they can actually put the marketing spin on and the guy deserves it. So, it’s been great, I mean they’ve sold, what, 55,000 tickets in a few hours? This is the biggest show in the history of MMA, so I mean that’s huge. So, that’s going to be an awesome, awesome fight. Looking forward to it.”
Topics: Canada, Media, MMA, StrikeForce, UFC, Zach Arnold | 18 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Nick Diaz wont get a title shot in the UFC so nothing to worry about.
Let Jon Fitch be a cautionary tale to any fighter who wants to play the teammate game.
Fitch could have had a title shot after beating Alves. Then he wouldn’t confirm if he would fight Koscheck. His next fight ends in a draw making it impossible for him to get a title fight next. Now he is injured. He will have to win 1 or 2 more times before getting a title shot and end up wasting at least 18 months of his prime due to his decision.
There are only so many chances for a title fight. To pass one up is nuts. So I won’t feel bad for fighters when they play that game and their careers suffer.
I’ve heard alot of stupid things said from all sorts of people but Cesar might have topped the list with that comment unbelievable.
Not to mention his recollection of Nate Diaz beating up guys in the third round doesn’t match up with reality. Stevenson handled him very easily in the third round of their fight and Guida basically negated him from doing anything for that entire round. Nate is just like Nick but it has nothing to do with being a slow starter he’s just a very limited that has a glaring weakness that isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
Fitch sucks, thats why he’s not fighting for the title.
You are on a roll tonight bro.
First with ‘Bellator is the new Pride’ and now with ‘Fitch sucks’. I can’t wait to see what is next. Perhaps ‘Sakakibara will save Japanese MMA’?
Keep up the good work
I’m sure Dana and Lorenzo would fight each other if they thought it would draw money on PPV.
That Cesar Gracie quote is one of the dumbest things ever said in sports.
Agreed@ mr. roadblock
It’s not the first time Cesar has said stupid things. Remember the
shithe talked about Greg Jackson a little while ago? Jackson of course didn’t dignify it with a response.His only defense of Nate is that Nate has great conditioning, he can beat guys that get tired.
Dana will now take out his anger at Cesar on Jake Shields. But props to Cesar for stepping up and calling Dana out.
GSP vs Nick Diaz is the number 1 fight I want to see in the entire sport. It is a horrible matchup for Georges; he can’t knock Nick out, Nick is very dangerous off his back, Nick is tough as nails, a better boxer than Georges (technically at least), and actually believes he can win. I would probably favor GSP to win in that fight, but Diaz provides him with a more difficult fight than anyone else in the division.
Shields isn’t as good at GSP at anything and is absolutely horrid on the feet.
Anthony Johnson showed against Koscheck that he is quite limited on the ground, and has horrid cardio. Athletically he is up there and he is huge, but he just lacks GSP’s skills.
Who else is there at 170? Fitch and Koscheck will never be able to beat him, Daley would get taken down and abused, and I don’t really know who else is out there who provides any threat at all in that weight division. I can’t even remember the last time GSP lost a round. I had the first round between he and BJ Penn as a draw in their rematch, before GSP’s cheating took over and he “won”.
Are you serious?, Nick Diaz the guy who can’t beat good wrestlers is going to give GSP a challenge in what planet?. Diaz has nothing for GSP he couldn’t handle Diego and Karo, GSP is on another planet with his wrestling and top control. Diaz would get massacred and would probably need more facial surgery after GSP bust him open with elbows. There is a reason why SF has been feeding Nick strikers and didn’t resign Jay Hieron because he’s still the same limited guy he’s always been.
It is a terrible matchup for Nick.
Guy with no takedown defense versus the best takedown artist in the game, and an ultra-conservative one to boot. GSP would hump the living shit out of Diaz.
Nick would get about five seconds at the start of each round to work his boxing and spend the next 4:55 underneath the Canadian. Wash, rinse, and repeat for five rounds.
GSP isnt ultra conservative at all, once it hits the ground he is very aggressive trying to pass the guard and get the mount where he is very good at gnp. This is what would happen to nick diaz if they fought.
Nice analysis David M. Hate GSP much?
You really think Nick has a chance vs. GSP??? Diaz’s striking is not high level. What would GSP do if Diaz did his usual ‘hands in the air, c’mon and fight dance’? GSP would jab, jab/hook him to death.
How good was Nick’s boxing vs. Cyborg and vs. Sakarai??? It wasn’t any better than either of them. Sak was winning the stand up, forcing Diaz to go for the take down.
Nick is very good of his back but with GSP’s strength and top control and defensive jitz, you really think Diaz can pull a triangle or armbar sub? Doubtful.
Nick vs. GSP is a great matchup for the masses, it will be built up (assuming it comes after the “biz as usual” BS ends) to be the biggest WW fight out there. Nick is a known name and has the tough guy shtick down pat. However, I don’t believe anybody in the fight game other than Nick’s camp or Nick’s family/friends would give Diaz better than a 20% chance.
Nick is a guy who is a lot of fun to watch and can be king of the B-level fighters.
GSP would absolutely maul him.
The fights in UFC that will be fun for Diaz are BJ, Thiago Alves, Chris Lytle, Mike Pyle, Martin Kampmann and Chris Leben and Wanderlei if they can do catch weights or have him go up to 185.
I can’t see Diaz even getting past Daley, I don’t think he can take him down and Paul Daley should win the stand up.
If it remains standing, I think his best chance is hoping Paul Daley gets tired.
GSP would skull f*ck Nick Diaz. This is preposterous.
Such and stupid comment.
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