While Nick Diaz has been characteristically cryptic about fighting career, his longtime coach Cesar Gracie is confident the controversial fighter will return given the right fight.
“Let’s face it,” Gracie said. “He’s a fighter and he’s gonna fight. It’s gonna happen.”
However, Gracie knows that his student will not return for fights that simply do not interest him. He believes Diaz is a useful commodity to the UFC and should be treated as such.
“I think a guy like him is better served doing big fights, no matter where they’re at,” Gracie said. “Seriously, no matter where the fight is — even if he has to go down a lighter weight than even 170. He wants big fights. That’s what motivates him. I think that’s what the greatest guys did was they didn’t look so much at weight classes, but they looked at the big fights that motivate them.”
In fact, Gracie would have called for a rematch against UFC welterweight champion Robbie Lawler had Diaz defeated Silva.
“Personally, best-case scenario without a doubt would have been for him to have gotten the nod, beaten Anderson Silva,” Gracie said. “And then we’d be seeing Nick-Lawler II and I think that would be a fan favorite. I think that would be incredible, that fight. The build-up to that would be so huge. Now with Nick losing a decision, that fight probably isn’t gonna be on the table.”
Transcription taken from MMAFighting.com.
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