Last week, the incredible news broke that the UFC had decided to cancel UFC 151 after Light Heavyweight contender Dan Henderson’s injury forced him to pull out of the main event. UFC President Dana White vehemently attacked LHW champion Jon Jones’ decision to turn down Chael Sonnen as a late replacement for the bout. Since then, we’ve seen Jones and his manager Greg Jackson try to defend the decision for a multitude of reasons.
Yesterday, Full Contact Fight caught up with Nick Diaz’s manager Cesar Gracie’s opinion of Team Jackson’s decision:
Number one, let me say that I really don’t know Greg personally, so I don’t want to say anything against his character because I don’t have anything personal against him. But I look at things from the angle of fighting, and the guys I admired coming up were the Chuck Liddells of the world…the champs that fought anybody, and I see the people out of Greg Jackson’s and it’s a different approach. I don’t think that approach is going to capture the imagination and trust of the fans.
When I see people trying to get the decision by dancing around, and I see a lot of that with one particular camp, then yeah, I’m going to criticize it. I think this is another reflection of that. Don’t take this fight, who knows why, because strategically it might not be good for you.
Cesar Gracie is best known as the manager for team members Nick and Nate Diaz, Jake Shields, and Gilbert Melendez. Although, Gracie hasn’t been free from criticism himself, his comments definitely reflect an historical view of Jackson’s MMA. Over the past few years Greg Jackson and many of his fighters have faced increasing scrutiny concerning a stratergy first attitude. The most prolific example of the trend being Georges St. Pierre’s style since his loss to Matt Serra.